Inset: Ricardo Trujillo Rojel (Utah). Background: Hobble Creek Canyon, where authorities found him and his missing children (KUTV).
Utah authorities recently revealed that a search for two young children came to an end when a tipster spotted them in the company of the man accused of murdering their mother — their own father.
Ricardo Trujillo Rojel, 30, is currently in the Weber County Jail for aggravated murder and aggravated arson.
State officials in Utah had issued an Amber Alert for Rojel’s two children, aged 2 and 3. Reports came in about a fire at a trailer in the Riverdale Manufactured Home Community in Riverdale on Monday around 2:46 p.m., as per NBC Salt Lake City affiliate KSL.
A responding officer arrived to find the front door ajar.
A police affidavit detailed, “The trailer was engulfed in smoke, and as the officer arrived, he observed a woman lying on the ground near the entrance with significant burn injuries.”
Cops noted a puncture wound to her neck, apparently from a sharp object, and concluded the death was a homicide.
Investigators claim it was Trujillo who killed her and set fire to the home. The search ended that evening with a tipster calling in at 7:30 p.m. about seeing a white Ford F150 apparently disabled a quarter-mile up the left fork of Hobble Creek Canyon, according to the Utah County Sheriff’s Office.
“The vehicle matched the description of the suspect vehicle in an Amber Alert from earlier on Monday, 03/24/25,” deputies wrote. “An adult male and two children were seen walking away from the truck heading up the Left Fork of Hobble Creek Canyon.”
A license plate reader reportedly also noted the vehicle in the area.
Deputies said they arrived, saved the children, and arrested Trujillo, although according to KSL, he allegedly assaulted one of the law enforcement officers. Authorities gave the kids to the Utah Division of Child and Family Services.
Trujillo’s prior criminal history reportedly included strangling a woman who was pregnant with his child. Originally charged with aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping, he ultimately received probation under a suspended jail sentence of 180 days for misdemeanor assault. In an ongoing domestic assault case from January 2025, he allegedly broke into a residence with the help of his sister, and he wrecked the place, tearing pictures from the wall and scattering other items, according to KSL.
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