BYreece,12p2
While Margo Bond was a champion bodybuilder and loved to golf, Stephanie Blundell dreamed of becoming an anesthesiologist or veterinarian.Lisa Martinez was a modern dancer with an infectious laugh, and her friend, Tuesday Roberts, won awards for her artwork and played all-star softball.
Prosecutors put more than just names to the faces of a West Valley woman and three Salt Lake County teenagers who were brutally murdered at the hands of confessed killer Roberto Arguelles.
The state also called homicide detectives and the chief medical examiner to the witness stand to recall details of the grisly crime scenes and accompanying confessions by Arguelles.
The prosecution was determined to show "there is no other reasonable alternative than the death penalty" for Arguelles, District Attorney Neal Gunnarson said.
The 35-year-old prison inmate remains resolute in being executed after pleading guilty last month to four counts of capital murder for the 1992 kidnappings and slayings of Bond, 42; Blundell, 13; Martinez, 16; and Roberts, 15.
Third District Judge David S. Young will decide Arguelles' fate since the former Kearns man waived his right to be sentenced by a 12-member jury. The judge could deliberate as soon as Thursday afternoon, if the prosecution and defense complete closing ar-gu-ments.
Young will have to weigh aggravating and mitigating factors in deciding whether Arguelles should be sentenced to death or given a term of life with the possibility of parole. Life without the possibility of parole is not an option in this case.
Although a court-ordered mitigation expert recommended last week that Arguelles should be given a complete mental evaluation, the killer himself has given the judge little to go by in the way of sparing his life.
But he was expected to call his first witness of the trial on Thurs-day.
Arguelles was going to ask former Department of Corrections investigator Jenny Glover about his demeanor and if he seemed truly remorseful during the investigation of the murders, the inmate's advisory counsel Ed Brass said Thurs-day.
On Wednesday, Arguelles, acting as his own lawyer, did not cross-examine his victims' family members.
Warren Bond, Margo Bond's husband; Elaine Blundell, Stephanie Blundell's mother; Veronica Juarez, Lisa Martinez's younger sister; and Shawn Roberts, Tuesday Roberts' older brother, all took the stand.
"Not only did I lose my wife, I lost my best friend," Bond said.
"(Stephanie's death) left us wondering what kind of person she would have been," Blundell remarked.
"Our little sister never got to know (Lisa)," Juarez said.
"(Tuesday's death) spun us around backwards and hit us hard," Roberts stated.
In April 1996, Arguelles confessed to three separate law enforcement officers as being the serial killer.
West Valley police detective Tracy Cowley said Arguelles told him he was driving around John F. Kennedy Junior High School the morning of Feb. 21, 1992, when he came upon Margo Bond, who was head custodian at the school.
He kidnapped her at knifepoint and took her to the desert 60 miles west of Salt Lake City where he sexually assaulted her, bound her hands and feet and strangled her. After removing her jewelry, he dumped the body in a shallow grave and discarded her clothing along I-80 as he traveled back to Salt Lake County.
Deputy district attorney Richard Hamp asked Cowley if police inquired about the weapon used to threaten Bond.
"(Arguelles) said he always carried a knife. He was always prepared because he never knew when he'd run into a victim," Cowley said.
Salt Lake County sheriff's detective Reed Parkin testified that Arguelles was "cold, controlling and without remorse" as he confessed to kidnapping Stephanie Blundell when she walked from her Magna home to Brockbank Junior High School.
After abducting the teen, Arguelles drove to a spot near Temple Fork Reservoir in American Fork Canyon on March 19, 1992. He forced Blundell to an isolated area, sexually assaulted her, handcuffed her and strangled her with her own clothing.
Arguelles dug a grave and buried the girl, marking it with a square stone. On his way back down the canyon, Arguelles stopped at a camping area and burned the girl's belongings, throwing the handcuffs into the American Fork River, Parkin said.
Darren Carr was a Salt Lake County Sheriff's homicide detective when Arguelles told police in July 1995 about witnessing a double homicide at his stepfather's West Salt Lake pig farm.
Officers unearthed skeletal remains of two people, and less than a year later, Arguelles confessed to the killings, saying he kidnapped Tuesday Roberts and Lisa Martinez as they walked to the Valley Fair Mall.
Carr said Arguelles told police he raped and strangled Roberts and stabbed Martinez multiple times with a wood chisel. Chief Medical Examiner Todd Grey testified Martinez suffered from a "frenzied attack" of 43 stab wounds and 18 blunt force trauma injuries.
On cross-examination, Arguelles asked each police officer if they ever asked him about blackouts or reviewed files regarding Arguelles' apparent mental disabilities.
Each replied no.
In each case, officers testified, Arguelles led them to spot where he had buried the women.