Ariana Aguilar: Utah Mother Sentenced to 17 Years for Leading Armed Teens to Murder Her Much Younger Boyfriend

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SALT LAKE CITY — A 46-year-old woman will spend at least 17 years behind bars for her role in a deadly break-in that left her 21-year-old boyfriend dead inside his own home. 

On July, 21, 2026, Ariana Aguilar learned her fate after a jury convicted her earlier this spring of murder, aggravated burglary, obstruction of justice, and retaliation against a witness in the killing of Jorge Llamas.

Jorge Llamas (Source)


According to police reports, on October 13, 2024, the couple had a fight earlier in the day, and Llamas locked Aguilar out of his Taylorsville residence. 

Aguilar then called her daughter to come pick her up, but when the daughter arrived, a second car carrying several teenagers pulled up right behind her. 

Aguilar then told the group about the fight, which she said started verbally before it turned physical. “She basically told them, ‘We have to take care of someone,’” said prosecutor Brett Keeler during her sentencing hearing.

Court documents show that Aguilar and her daughter, Natalie Aguilar, broke a window screen, opened a window, and directed two of the teenage boys to climb inside and unlock the door. 

Once everyone was inside, Ariana Aguilar led them straight to Llamas’ bedroom where one of the teens pistol-whipped Llamas, and then a second teenager pulled out another gun and shot him, as seen on Court TV News.

After the gunfire, all the teenagers ran from the house, but Ariana Aguilar stayed back, and pressed her hands against Llamas’ neck to try to stop the bleeding. 

She remained with him until police arrived. When detectives interviewed her, though, she lied about where her cellphone was and where her daughter had gone in order to mislead authorities and protect her child.

Ariana Aguilar at her sentencing 



After she was arrested and charged for the murder, Aguilar’s defense team claimed their client never meant for any of this to happen. 

Attorney Lance Bastian argued that his client had called her daughter only for a ride and had no idea multiple teenagers would show up. 

“Her daughter took it upon herself to invite several, very drug-high teenagers that were with her,” Bastian said. 

He stressed that when Aguilar reported the earlier physical altercation with Llamas to the teens, “it was apparently interpreted by the young men as some sort of call to action, regardless of the fact that that was not necessarily her intent.” 

Bastian added that his client didn’t know anyone had a gun, and when the first teen pulled out a weapon and hit Llamas, she reportedly yelled, ‘No!’ in that moment when that happened.

However prosecutors disagreed because they saw it differently. They argued that Aguilar continued to claim she never called her daughter to come over with people, which was contradicted by the evidence. According to prosecutors, she reportedly told her daughter "We need to jump someone," before they entered the victims house.

In a letter translated from Spanish and read aloud by the prosecution at Ariana's sentencing hearing, Llamas’ mother, Gloria Marquez, spoke about a loss so deep it has wrecked her health.

“I cannot fathom the motives behind committing such an atrocious act,” the letter said, as per KSL News.

Marquez described her son as a brother, an uncle, and a friend “whose absence we feel every single day.” 

She also addressed Aguilar directly, saying,: “As a mother yourself, I ask you from the bottom of my heart to put yourself in my shoes and consider how I have felt since the moment I was told my son would never see me again, not even to say goodbye. I will miss him for the rest of my days, living only on memories.”

Llamas’ cousin, Miriam Diaz, also spoke remotely and urged the judge to hand down more than the minimum. “She needs to pay mind to the time that Jorge has been buried under the earth. Maybe one day she’ll leave prison, but Jorge will never come back to us,” Diaz said through an interpreter

She added that Llamas “had his whole life ahead of him” and that the family simply wanted a fair sentence.

When given the chance to speak, Ariana Aguilar kept her statement brief. “I hate that a simple night turned into something so horrible; nevertheless, here I am with a broken heart, ready to accept what the court has for me,” she said.

After their emotional statements, Third District Judge Patricia Kuendig then handed down the sentence. For murder, Aguilar received 15 years to life in prison, and for aggravated burglary, five years to life, and those two terms will run at the same time. 

The judge also ordered that the sentences for two counts of obstruction of justice — each carrying one to 15 years — and one count of retaliation against a witness, which carries zero to five years, will be served consecutively and only after the first two sentences are completed. This means that Aguilar must serve a minimum of 17 years before she becomes eligible for parole.

Aguilar’s sentencing closes out the last chapter of the case as every other person involved had previously recieved their punishment. 

Her daughter, Natalie Aguilar, and Alejandro Mendoza were each convicted of manslaughter and aggravated burglary, second-degree felonies. 

They were sentenced to terms of one to 15 years in prison, but those sentences were suspended, and both were placed on probation for five years. 

The teenager who Natalie Aguilar said fired the fatal shot entered a guilty plea to murder, a first-degree felony, in juvenile court, so the youth will be held in secure care until age 25, the maximum allowed in the juvenile system. 

Two other teenagers, who were between 14 and 16 years old at the time of the killing, faced obstruction of justice charges; one pleaded guilty and the other had charges dismissed.

“Reckless gun violence took the life of an innocent man,” said Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill in a statement. “This prosecution helped deliver accountability for the fatal decision the defendant made to have people retaliate for a perceived wrong,” he added.

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