A convicted felon with a long history of vicious crimes was sentenced to prison Thursday for the 1976 rape and murder of 24-year-old Carolyn W. Sarkesians, whose battered body was found near the trash behind a prison halfway house in Salt Lake City.
Gayle Gilbert Benavidez, 49, pleaded guilty to "murder in the first degree," which was the law at the time of this capital crime and which carried a penalty of either death or life in prison with the possibility of parole.
The plea bargain Benavidez accepted recommended a prison sentence, which was imposed Thursday by 3rd District Judge Stephen Henriod.
Sarkesians' body was found March 8, 1976, amid debris behind a halfway house near 323 W. North Temple, a facility that no longer exists. She had been strangled, her neck was broken and she had been raped.
Benavidez was staying there after serving a brief prison term for the 1974 rape of a 15-year-old girl who had been beaten and choked during that attack.
Prosecutors say Benavidez has another rape conviction on record and police records show Benavidez has been arrested for a series of other violent crimes in the past.
Benavidez was a "person of interest" at the time of Sarkesians' murder but did not confess and was not charged. The "cold case squad" of the Salt Lake City Police Department revived the case in 2004 and a DNA sample from Benavidez showed a match.
"I think life in prison with parole is too lenient," Jackie Benn, sister of the murdered woman, told the court. "He should not have the possibility of being free again."
Benn said her life and her children's lives have been robbed of her fun-loving sister's presence and Benavidez's violence left a void that cannot be filled.
"We not only grieved for her loss but had to live with years of uncertainty and questions about her murder," said nephew Phillip Waite.
"There is not a holiday that goes by that I don't miss my sister," said Shirley Johnson, another sister. "He left my family with a lifetime of grief."
Later, family members expressed relief that Benavidez is behind bars and said they hope he is never released because of his violent history.
"If he is paroled, he will do this again," stated Benn.
"This man is a menace," prosecutor Katie Bernards-Goodman told the court. "He should never have been let out of prison before and definitely should not be out in the future."
Michael Peterson, one of Benavidez's lawyers, told the judge his client was "profoundly remorseful" for what he had done.
Benavidez also told the judge he was sorry: "I want to apologize for my actions as a youngster. At age 18, I had some outrageous thoughts. I've come a long way since then."
E-mail: lindat@desnews.com