This Monday at 2:45 p.m., the Riverdale Police Department and the Riverdale Fire Department in Riverdale, Utah, arrived at a structure fire in the town to find an unresponsive woman inside.
A press release from the police department said that the first responders saw a small amount of smoke emanating from a trailer. Once inside, they carried the woman out of the structure and tried to provide aid. However, she was found to be deceased.
Upon further investigation, authorities determined that the woman – identified as 23-year-old Mayra Catalan-Dimas – had been the victim of homicide. KUTV reported that authorities “discovered Catalan-Dimas with severe burn marks and a wound to her neck from a sharp object.”
Upon further investigation, authorities determined that the woman – identified as 23-year-old Mayra Catalan-Dimas – had been the victim of homicide. Her two children, 2-year-old Angie Trujillo and 3-year-old Ricardo Trujillo were also missing, so an Amber Alert was issued.
At the same time the children’s father, 29-year-old Ricardo Trujillo, was unaccounted for. He was included in the Amber Alert. This system was developed in 1996, when Dallas-Fort Worth broadcasters teamed with local police to develop an early warning system to help find abducted children, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
“Later that evening, an individual reported seeing the vehicle listed in the Amber Alert on the side of the road in Springville Canyon,” said the Riverdale Police Department. “Officers responded and located the children with Ricardo Trujillo, who was taken into custody.”
After their father was taken into custody, the children were initially placed in the care of Child Protective Services. They were eventually released to other family members.
Meanwhile, Trujillo was booked into the Weber County Correctional Facility on charges of aggravated murder and aggravated arson – he was still listed as an inmate there on Saturday. As of Thursday, an investigation into the incident was still active and the police department said it will provide more information when available.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with her family at this difficult time,” said the department of Catalan-Dimas.
Data from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics has shown that women are five times more likely to be murdered by an intimate partner than men. In 2021, 34% of the 4,879 female victims of murder and negligent manslaughter in the U.S. were killed by an intimate partner.