Three more arrested in kidnapping and murder case of Kearns woman, still no body recovered

Police arrested three more people, including a mother and son, in the case of a 25-year-old Nicole Solorio-Romero who was kidnapped and killed last month. While the number of those arrested grows, police have yet to locate the victim’s body.

The new court documents state that a witness “observed the victim being shot in the head.”

“Through investigation, detectives found Carolina Marquez, Fernando Marquez, Ivan Acosta and a known/identified confidential source were at the West Valley address when the shooting occurred,” the arrest documents state.

“Fernando Marquez called Chaparro and told him to bring Nicole to the Elba address. Carolina told Chaparro to take Nicole upstairs when they arrived with her.”

Carolina Marquez was interviewed and allegedly said she was at the West Valley City residence and witnessed the shooting.

After Nicole was shot, all parties at the apartment went to her (Carolina Marquez) restaurant. After being at the restaurant for a while, Chaparro made her go back to the apartment and clean up the scene.

Acosta told police he was at the West Valley location when the victim was brought there but was outside the apartment when he heard the gun shot. After meeting at the restaurant he went back to the apartment but said he did not clean up, though he told police Carolina Marquez did.

Police body camera footage from West Valley City police doing a welfare check also was mentioned in the probable cause documents. It states:

This showed Carolina, Fernando and Ivan at the West Valley apartment, just hours after the shooting, moving items out of the apartment and locking the apartment door. They appeared to be cleaning up since the items in the basket they were carrying was paper towels and cleaner

In previous charging documents, prosecutors alleged Orlando Esiesa Tobar, 29, and Jorge Rafael Medina-Reyes, 21, took Solorio-Romero to a residence in West Valley City and shot her.

According to witness statements documented in court records, the suspects were upset with Solorio-Romero because they believed she gave police information that led to the arrest of one of Tobar’s “close associates.”

Solorio-Romero reportedly told the witnesses that Tobar and Medina-Reyes were responsible for her husband’s death, before Tobar said she “knew too much, and she was not going to leave that apartment,” charging documents stated.

The homicide investigation and search for Solorio-Romero’s remains are ongoing.