Murder and Kidnapping Charges Filed for 2022 Homicides

Today, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill announced six first-degree felony charges against Cesar Matias Sevilla-Aleman for the alleged murders of three people in March 2022 over a $2,400 drug debt.

The three victims in this case, Rocio Bustamante, Carlos “Carlitos” Sepulveda, and Zamir “Cumbias” Sanchez, were last seen on March 28, 2022, when a relative of Ms. Bustamante saw her get into the car with the other two. A few months later, the same family member got a phone call telling them to stop looking for Ms. Bustamante because someone killed her and buried her in the mountains.

An acquaintance of Mr. Sepulveda told investigators that Carlos had mentioned someone named Taliban, who police arrested for a shooting at a party in Spanish Fork around June or July 2022. A different individual who knew Mr. Sepulveda told investigators Mr. Sepulveda owed Taliban money. Investigators were able to determine that Taliban’s real name is Cesar Matias Sevilla-Aleman.

During Mr. Sevilla-Aleman’s arrest for the shooting in Spanish Fork, detectives took his cell phone. West Valley City Police discovered Mr. Sepulveda’s phone was with Mr. Sevilla-Aleman at 3:21 a.m. on March 28, 2022. Mr. Sevilla-Aleman’s phone location was in the Vernon/Rush Valley area in Tooele County. Later that same day, an individual woke up to see Mr. Sevilla-Aleman and three other people in her house covered in dirt and mud, talking about shooting and killing the three victims. That witness heard the group with Mr. Sevilla-Aleman say that they dug the hole for the men, and the woman was not supposed to be there, but she was shot and killed as well.

Detectives also found a social media conversation between Mr. Sepulveda and Mr. Sanchez’ in which Mr. Sepulveda said that he needed to pay a debt of $2400 or “they” would take him away.

 On April 22, 2023, a search and rescue team with cadaver dogs notified West Valley City Police detectives that their dogs had located human remains while training in a mountainous area east of Rush Valley in Tooele County. Two days later detectives, forensic investigators, and personnel from the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner began removing the human remains from the area. During excavation three human bodies were found; they were later identified as Ms. Bustamante, Mr. Sepulveda, and Mr. Sanchez. An autopsy determined their deaths to have been by gunshot wounds.

Mr. Sevilla-Aleman has been charged with three counts of first-degree felony aggravated murder and three counts of first-degree felony aggravated kidnapping.

“We thank our partners in law enforcement for working with our prosecutors to help solve this case and file these charges,” Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill. “All persons accused of wrongdoing are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.”