PROVO — Investigators believe they have found the person who shot and killed a Provo couple in an Orem orchard last June.
The Orem Department of Public Safety announced Monday it will release information about an arrest made in connection with the case.
Representatives from the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI provided information that helped Orem find the man believed to have shot both Maritza Aguilar, 22, and Pablo Montoya, 20, in the head June 14, said Michael J. Larsen, Orem director of public safety.
Larsen and sources at the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office declined further comment until today's press conference.
Aguilar's brother, Angel Aguilar, said investigators contacted the victims' families Friday and told them about the arrest.
"We're pretty relieved," Aguilar said. "We're happy they finally caught the guy. We're all glad it's over. Hopefully the guy will get what he deserves."
Investigators said someone shot Montoya and Maritza Aguilar while sitting in the back seat of the couple's red Honda. The car was found tucked among trees behind a greenhouse at Cook's Farm and Greenhouse at 1645 W. 1600 North in Orem.
Aguilar was found dead in the car by greenhouse employees. Montoya apparently staggered out of the car and died a few steps away.
Two weeks after the double slaying, a police dog found a package hidden in a secret compartment inside the car. The package contained rock cocaine with an estimated street value of $20,000. Police have speculated that the drugs provided the motive for the murders.
Aguilar's cousin, Franco Aguilar, told the Deseret Morning News that Maritza Aguilar's family suspected she and Montoya were involved in the drug trade. Maritza Aguilar only recently had moved from her family's home in Pleasant Grove to Provo, where she lived in an apartment with Montoya.
Family members of both victims begged anyone with information about the case to come forward, but police said members of Utah County's Hispanic community were hesitant because of high-profile INS raids this summer.
An Orem man told investigators in August that he believed he saw Maritza Aguilar and Montoya engaged in a road rage incident on State Street in Orem just hours before the couple was found dead. He said he was stopped at a traffic light at 400 North when cars pulled up on either side of him and the occupants shouted at each other across his car.
The informant said there were two Hispanic males in the other car and one leaned out the passenger window and yelled "give it to me" to Aguilar and Montoya several times in Spanish. He saw the cars run several red lights and turn west on 800 North in the direction of the nursery.
E-MAIL: twalch@desnews.com