KEARNS — The owner of a Mexican restaurant and two other people have been arrested in connection with the kidnapping and killing of a Kearns woman whose body has not been found.
A mother and her son — Carolina Marquez, 38, and Fernando Marquez, 22 — were arrested Tuesday for investigation of murder, obstruction of justice and kidnapping. Ivan Jesus Acosta, 27, was arrested for investigation of kidnapping and obstruction of justice.
The arrests came as Unified police detectives served four search warrants in Kearns, West Valley City and Salt Lake City as they continue to investigate the death of Conzuelo “Nicole” Solorio-Romero, 25. Police say was forcibly taken from her home at 5133 W. 5400 South at gunpoint or at knifepoint on Feb. 6.
From there, Solorio-Romero was taken to a residence in West Valley City at 1136 W. Elba Ave., and murdered, police say. Her body was then transported to an unknown location.
On Feb. 23, Orlando Esiesa Tobar, 29, from Honduras, who goes by the name “Chaparro,” and Jorge Rafael Medina-Reyes, 21, who goes by the monikers “the Venezuelan” and “Moreno,” were charged with aggravated murder, aggravated kidnapping and obstructing justice, all first-degree felonies.
After Solorio-Romero was abducted, witnesses said she accused the two men of killing her husband. “Chaparro stated that she knew too much and she was not going to leave that apartment. Chaparro then moved his head to the side and Moreno shot Nicole in the back of the head,” according to charging documents.
“One witness stated the victim was loaded into the back of Chaparro’s vehicle and she was never seen again. One witness stated he received a call from Chaparro stating the victim didn’t die from the initial shot and had to shoot her again,” a police affidavit states.
One of the search warrants served Tuesday was at the Kearns home where Solorio-Romero was taken, according to police.
Another one was served at Tacos Mi Caramelo, 1808 W. 3500 South, the business that Carolina Marquez owns. In November 2019, two men were charged with kidnapping Marquez days after she fired them.
Police believe the three people arrested Tuesday night were at the West Valley residence where Solorio-Romero was shot.
A confidential informant told police that Marquez has been telling people that her adult son was “set up by someone and is now in jail,” according to a police affidavit. On the day Solorio-Romero was kidnapped, Marquez was overhead on the phone “telling someone to take all of Nicole’s things out.”
A few hours later, Fernando Marquez was on the phone with one of Solorio-Romero’s relatives who was pleading, “Give us Nicole back, we just want Nicole back,” according to the affidavit.
Police interviewed Carolina Marquez who “stated that she was at the West Valley residence when Chaparro and the Venezuelan arrived with Nicole. She stated Nicole was in the apartment when she witnessed Nicole being shot. After Nicole was shot, all parties at the apartment went to her restaurant. After being at the restaurant for a while, Chaparro made her go back to the apartment and clean up the scene,” the affidavit states.
Video surveillance seized as part of Tuesday’s search warrant at Marquez’s restaurant shows “Carolina, Chaparro, the Venezuelan and Fernando meeting in Carolina’s office for a period of time after the shooting occurred and before going back over the house to clean the scene,” according to the affidavit.
Acosta, who was arrested Tuesday, told police he was outside the West Valley residence when Solorio-Romero was shot. After the shooting, he said Carolina Marquez got into his vehicle and she told him to drive away, the affidavit says.
“As Ivan was leaving, he said Jorge (the Venezuelan) came out and told him to leave and stated they were going to clean up,” according to his booking affidavit. “Ivan stated he eventually got to the restaurant, and when he was at the restaurant, Orlando (Chaparro) and Jorge arrived. Ivan stated they had a meeting in the office and Orlando was bragging about killing Nicole. Ivan stated Carolina responded and told Orlando and Jorge, ‘You know what to do.’ Ivan stated Orlando asked Carolina for money and she got into her safe and gave Orlando over $500.”
After that, the group went back to the West Valley residence where Solorio-Romero was shot to clean up the blood, the affidavit states. While there, “Carolina said, ‘If they catch one of us, they will catch us all.’”
