FILLMORE — One of the two men arrested in connection with the slaying of Millard County sheriff's deputy Josie Greathouse Fox will make his first court appearance today.
Roberto Miramontes Roman, 37, is charged with aggravated murder, a capital offense, and tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony. He was being held Wednesday in the Millard County Jail in lieu of $50 million cash-only bail. Prosecutors have filed notice they intend to seek the death penalty.
Ruben Chavez Reyes, who was arrested with Roman on Wednesday, has not been formally charged but is being held in jail on an immigration hold. Reyes could possibly face identical charges to those filed against Roman, Millard County Sheriff Robert Dekker said Wednesday.
Roman and Reyes were arrested about 7 a.m. Wednesday after deputies received a tip that they were inside a shed behind a mobile home just north of Beaver, said Beaver County Sheriff Cameron Noel.
The mobile-home owner is an acquaintance of both men, according to a law enforcement source. The owner got up early Wednesday to go to work, went to his shed to get a chain saw and found the men sleeping inside, the source said. The man quietly closed the door without waking the men and called police.
The men were taken into custody without incident by a sheriff's SWAT team and officers from surrounding agencies, Noel said. Investigators obtained a search warrant and searched the shed but have not said if any weapons were located inside.
Authorities believe Roman fired the single shot that left Fox dead on the side of U.S. 50 about 1 a.m. Tuesday. At the request of Sgt. Rhett Kimball, who had observed what he believed was suspicious behavior, Fox had stopped the Cadillac that Roman was allegedly driving. When Kimball arrived at Fox's location several minutes later, he found Fox on the ground with a bullet wound to the upper torso. Her gun was still in its holster.
The shooting sparked a statewide manhunt Tuesday. SWAT teams raided homes in the Poplar Grove neighborhood of Salt Lake City, in Nephi and in Fillmore after receiving tips that Roman and Reyes were there, Dekker said.
Investigators also had information the men might be in Beaver County, Noel said. Detectives knew the men, along with some friends, regularly organized dances in the area.
Late Tuesday, the Beaver County Sheriff's Office received a tip the two men might be in the area. Investigators searched, but, Noel said, "We came up with zero."
Wednesday morning, deputies received a call from a second person, who tipped them off about the shed.
Dekker visited with Fox's family after the arrests.
"What we talked about was very personal," he said, declining to elaborate. "I think everyone is relieved these people are in custody."
The department as a whole, he said, has received many offers of help from across Utah and outside the state.
"You know it's out there, you've made that call yourself, but you don't know the impact that has. It's marvelous," he said.
The sheriff said the investigation, which his office is leading with assistance from the Utah County Sheriff's Office and several federal agencies, is ongoing. He said detectives are still trying to establish a timeline for where Roman went after Fox was killed, how Roman and Reyes reached Beaver, how the two cars tied to the men ended up in Salt Lake City and Nephi and who may have aided the men in their attempt to elude capture.
"We've got theories, some things we're working on, but we don't want to put them out there right now," Dekker said.
Roman has a long criminal history that also includes being deported twice to Mexico.
He pleaded guilty in 1992 to drug distribution, a charge that was amended from a felony to a misdemeanor, according to court records. In 1997 Roman pleaded guilty to drug possession and had several other drug-related charges dismissed, court records state.
After his June 1997 conviction, he was sentenced to the Utah State Prison where he was paroled 14 months later to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice issued a statement Wednesday from her office in San Francisco, saying that Roman "has a lengthy criminal and immigration history. He was initially admitted to the United States legally in 1990. However, based upon his subsequent criminal convictions in this country, he was deported to Mexico in October 1998."
Since then, Roman has been arrested twice for illegally re-entering the U.S. and prosecuted once for that offense in Arizona, she said.
Investigators determined Reyes is also in the country illegally and an immigration detainer has been placed on him, Kice said.
Roman's MySpace page is filled with pictures and videos of Roman posing with handguns and rifles, including an AK-47. His status showed he last logged in on Sunday and he listed his mood as "crazy" and his status as "ready for whatever is next."
In one picture, Roman is seen kneeling next to a car while holding a rifle with the caption "military made" next to the photo. In another, he's sitting in the driver's seat of a vehicle holding a handgun in the air. The caption says, "always ready on a cadilac (sic)."
Pictures of three children, reportedly Roman's children, all teenagers or younger, are also posted on the site, all of them posing while holding rifles.
A video labeled "Miguel shooting" shows Roman and two other men firing a rifle outdoors at a target.
Other pictures include cases of beer and dances that Roman apparently promoted.
In his status updates from 2009, Roman talks of bringing bands from Salt Lake to places like Fillmore and Ephraim to host dances. Other updates include one on Dec. 29 talking about getting ready to host a dance in Beaver for New Year's Eve. A post on Dec. 17 talks about spending Christmas in St. George. On Nov. 27 Roman posted that he had knee surgery and was still in pain.
In July, Roman made a couple of MySpace posts, listing his moods as "evil" and "dirty."
Roman's page was taken off the site late Wednesday afternoon.
One of the two suspicious vehicles that Kimball was watching just prior to the shooting was driven by Fox's brother, Ryan Greathouse. He later told police he had purchased drugs from Roman in a Cadillac just minutes before his sister was shot and killed, according to the charges.
Asked Wednesday about the drug connection with Fox's brother, Dekker said, "I think we've said all we're going to say."
Investigators say the Cadillac is owned by Reyes and was located later Tuesday morning abandoned in Nephi. A Corvette tied to both Reyes and Roman was found about 4 a.m. Tuesday in Poplar Grove and neighbors said it had not been there the night before.
Roman and Reyes were transferred late Wednesday to the Millard County Jail. Dekker said even though it was a Millard County deputy who was killed, he did not foresee any problems with keeping the men in Fillmore.
"The people who work for me are professionals. We can take care of it," he said.
A viewing for Fox is scheduled for Sunday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Millard County Fairgrounds. Her funeral will be held Monday, beginning at 11 a.m. at the LDS stake center in Delta, 125 White Sage Ave.
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