This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Three people have been charged in the July beating death and robbery of a West Valley City man.
Arturo Frias-Gonzales, 24, Bernadette J. Ramirez, 47, and Eddie Elias Salazar, 40, were charged Friday in 3rd District Court with first-degree felony counts of murder, aggravated robbery and aggravated kidnapping in connection with the death of 63-year-old Steven Louis Valdez. (Charging documents identify the victim by an incorrect name.)
Frias-Gonzales and Ramirez also were charged with first-degree felony child kidnapping and second-degree felony obstructing justice. Salazar also was charged with second-degree felony aggravated assault.
All three have been booked into the Salt Lake County jail. Bail is set at $1 million for each.
Initial court appearances for the three have been set for Wednesday.
At about 1:15 a.m. on July 25, police responding to reports of shots fired found Valdez dead at his home, at 4150 S. Bluejay St. (4885 West).
Soon after, Valdez's 22-year-old niece showed up at the home and told police she had heard an argument upstairs between her uncle and Ramirez, along with sounds consistent with an assault, according to charging documents.
She went upstairs and saw Frias-Gonzales near the doorway of the master bedroom holding a handgun, and Salazar holding a tire iron, charges state. Inside the bedroom, a blood-covered Valdez had apparent wounds to his head and leg.
The niece said she ran downstairs, followed by two gunshots aimed at her.
She escaped the home though a window with her infant child, but was met outside by Ramirez and Frias-Gonzales, who forced her into an SUV, charges state.
Before leaving, Ramirez and Frias-Gonzales removed items from the home and ordered the niece to tell police there had been a home-invasion robbery by a gang of masked men, charges state. They also told the niece to say that Ramirez and Frias-Gonzales had gone to Wendover.
The niece initially told this false version of events to police, charges state, followed by the version that implicated the three defendants.
Later on July 25, Ramirez and Frias-Gonzales arrived at the home and told police that three unknown masked men had entered the residence.
Three days later, Ramirez admitted she had gotten into an argument with Valdez over him stealing her drug customers, but she said she had then "blacked out" as to what else had happened, charges state.
On Oct. 26, police with a search warrant at Ramirez's home found items belonging to Valdez, including a necklace and his cellphone. And two days later, police searching Frias-Gonzales' home found a number of watches believed to belong to Valdez, charges state.
An autopsy showed Valdez died from a gunshot wound to the leg and blunt force trauma to the head consistent with being hit with a tire iron, according to charges.