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| Notorious killer dies on Utah death row |
| By New York Times |
| Published: 12/22/2003 |
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Roberto Arguelles will never face the firing squad that he chose as the means of his execution after he was convicted of kidnapping and killing four people. But Arguelles, who was considered Utah's most notorious inmate, did die on death row last month in what some family members of his victims say was an unfair reprieve. Five months after a judge postponed his execution, Arguelles died at age 41 in Utah State Prison of what investigators said were natural causes. "I can't believe he just passed away; it was like nothing," said Lorraine Martinez, whose 16-year-old daughter was one of Arguelles' victims. "I wish he could have lived longer and suffered more." The path that led Arguelles to death row began with a string of crimes that started when he was 16 and sexually abused a 10-year-old girl. By age 18, he had been convicted of attempted capital homicide of one 15-year-old girl and aggravated sexual assault of another. In 1992, while he was on parole, he went on a killing spree. Arguelles confessed to killing one woman and three teenage girls. Most of his victims were kidnapped, sexually assaulted and then strangled. Arguelles was 30 years old and working as a laborer at a metals processing plant when the killings began. His first victim was Margo Bond, a 42-year-old janitor at a junior high school. Three weeks later, Arguelles kidnapped and murdered Stephanie Blundell, 13, who was on her way to school. A week later, he offered Tuesday Roberts, 14, and Lisa Martinez, 16, a ride to a mall. He handcuffed the girls together and tried to sexually assault Lisa. When she resisted, Arguelles stabbed her to death with a wood chisel. Arguelles then sexually assaulted and strangled Tuesday. The deaths remained unsolved until 1996, when Arguelles confessed while in prison for sexually abusing two young children. Arguelles had been set to face the firing squad on June 27. The execution was postponed after the director of the Utah Department of Corrections told a judge Arguelles might not be mentally competent. In the end, Arguelles died without Utah's help. He was taken to the hospital twice with intestinal blockage but refused treatment, said Jack Ford, spokesman for the Utah Department of Corrections. On Nov. 15, officers on routine patrol noticed Arguelles had glassy eyes and was unusually subdued, and he was taken to the prison infirmary. His death came quickly. |
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