Serial Killer Roberto Arguelles #truecrime

Over just a few short months in 1992, a vicious monster stabbed or strangled at least 4 girls and women in Salt Lake City Utah. After a lifetime of abusing kids, the killer crossed the line to murder. Countless unknown other victims of his perversion survived the ordeal. Even after the murders, it was not until the killer bragged to others in prison that police were able to find the victims and charge his with murder when other inmates were so disgusted by his claims that they reported him.

Robert Arguelles, the Salt Lake City Strangler.

Robert Arguelles was born on the 14th of February, 1962 in Kearns, Utah. He had one brother, and when they were young, their stepfather moved the family to a pig farm in Salt Lake City, Utah and put them to work. While he was a teenager, Arguelles began to have run ins with the law.

In September 1977 at age 15, he was arrested for attempting to steal a car. He received probation which did not deter him from future committing future crimes. 1 years later, in June 1978 he was back in custody, this time for physically assaulting his girlfriend and family. Arguelles would spend a month in a group home after the attacks.

Upon returning home his criminal activity escalated. On October 5 1978, he kidnapped and assaulted a 10 year old girl. Once again, he received soft treatment from the court. Despite the heinous act, Robert was only put on house arrest and not made to remain locked up until his trial.

While awaiting his trial, Arguelles continued abusing children and began assaulting other teenagers as well. There was a charge of violating a 7 year old in November of 1978 which was later dropped. And only months later he was arrested for assaulting a 17 year old.

For the crimes he committed against the 10 year old and 17 year old, Arguelles was found guilty. He was sent to State Youth Devlopment Center in Ogden, Utah. It was recommended that he remain incarcerated until his 21 birthday, however once again he was treated gently by the justice system.

The facility did not have a treatment program for offenders such as Arguelles. Staff attempted to get him into Utah State Hospital where they did have such a program. He was rejected as a candidate as the hospital found him resistant. Instead, he was released on December 19, 1979 with the stipulation that he attend therapy sessions at the University of Utah.

These sessions did not have their intended effect and in March of 1980 he was once again victimizing kids. He took a 15 year old and assaulted her before releasing her outside of her school after threatening her with death if she told anyone what he had done.

Only days later Arguelles kidnapped a 14 year old. This time he took the girl to the pig farm and abused her at knife point. When she struggled against him, he slashed her neck then dropped her off in a neighborhood in West Valley City. She survived and was able to get help at a home. While in the hospital she gave police a detailed description of both her attacker and his vehicle.

Soon Arguelles was arrested for the 2 attacks he had committed since his release. He was charged with 2 counts of attempted murder, aggravated rape, and sexual abuse. He was sent to Utah State prison where he stayed until he was paroled on June 25 1991.

In August 1992, Arguelles assaulted 2 children in front of an elementary school. He told the siblings, a 10 year old girl and an 8 year old boy, that he was a security guard looking for some stolen items. Under the guise of searching them, he violated both children. When he was done, he dropped them off at their home.

Barely a week after assaulting the elementary school kids, Arguelles tried the same trick again, this time using a fake police badge. When he attempted to lure 2 10 year olds into his car, a nearby road worker saw him and intervened. Arguelles was soon arrested after the incident.

He was charged with assaulting the brother and sister and recieved a life sentence with the chance of parole. However, judge Kenneth Rigtup told the court that parole should never be granted to Arguelles, citing his repeated deviant offenses.

For the next 3 years, Roberto Arguelles spent his time in prison bragging to other inmates about a series of murders he had committed. In 1995, police approached him for an interview. It was not long before he began to direct them to the first 2 victims bodies.

16 year old Lisa Martinez was walking to the local mall on March 30, 1992 with her friend 15 year old Tuesday Roberts when the 2 disappeared. Arguelles picked them up then drove them to the family pig farm. There he stabbed Lisa more than 40 times with a wood chisel. Once she was dead, he strangled Tuesday with a rope then buried them on the farm where they were later found by police.

Months later, Arguelles told police about 2 more murders. Margo Bond was a 42 year old janitor on her way to work at Kennedy Junior High school in February 1992. In June she was found stabbed to death in Tooele County.

The last victim that Arguelles confessed to killing was 13 year old Stephanie Blundell. She went missing on her way to school. One month later her body was found in the American Fork Canyon. She too had been stabbed to death.

This confession was reinforced with a former roommate, Pamela Milstein. She told investigators that Arguelles had shown her the jewelry he had taken from Stephanie Blundell. However, the jewelry was never recovered. Even with such damning confessions on record, Roberto Arguelles was not willing to submit to the justice system without a fuss.

To begin the new legal proceedings, his lawyer petitioned to have the original convictions that put him behind bars thrown out. The argument was that Arguelles did not receive proper representation. When the attempt was thwarted by the Supreme Court, the killers plea was changed from not guilty to guilty and he waived the right to appeal.

Now guilty for murder, Arguelles demanded that he receive the death penalty. The monster represented himself at the sentencing hearing, and questioned several witnesses under the advisement of appointed lawyers. These attorneys claimed that Arguelles suffered from a variety of mental problems including multiple personality disorder.

On June 21st 1997, the killer was sentenced to death. Arguelles opted to be killed by firing squad and to not by hooded when he was shot. A date was set but the automatic appeals process began as with all death penalty cases. While these appeals were underway, Arguelles began efforts to carry out the sentence himself.

The first attempt came after he had spent one year on death row. In 1998 Roberto tried to hang himself and when this was unsuccessful, he began ingesting inedible objects such as paper, plastic, and his own waste. During this time, he became more violent in his legal proceedings as well. After multiple outbursts, he was wheeled into court strapped to a wheelchair with a spit mask over his head.

Roberto Arguelles got the last laugh on the world on November 15 2003. A guard noticed the killer was unresponsive and ordered he be taken to the infirmary. There he was pronounced dead of natural causes in the Utah state penitentiary in Draper.

#serialkiller #truecrimedocumentary #crime #evil #utah