SALT LAKE CITY — More than three years after the body of a Kearns woman was found wrapped in plastic bags on the side of the road, a suspect has pleaded guilty to the murder.
Nicole Solario-Romero went missing in February 2021 and local officials said evidence suggested she had been kidnapped and shot.
Shortly after Solario-Romero's disappearance, the Unified Police Department arrested Orlando Tobar and Jorge Medina-Reyes in connection to the incident.
More than a month later, in March 2021, the body of Solario-Romero was found wrapped in garbage bags.
Eventually, four other people were also arrested in connection to the case.
Now, more than three years later, Medina-Reyes pleaded guilty to his involvement in the murder, Salt Lake District Attorney Sim Gill announced.
"Sometimes the wheels of justice seem a bit slow, but when you have complicated cases like this, this is something we get paid to do, which is just stick with it," said Gill.
Officials detailed that Medina-Reyes and Tobar forced Solario-Romero from her home at gun point and drove her to a residence in West Valley City.
On Thursday, Medina-Reyes pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree felony murder and one count of first-degree felony kidnapping.
"This is something that we’ve been working on," added Gill. "We are just methodically working through the case and prosecuting the case.
"It was just great police work. A lot of hard work, a lot of patience putting the cases together. It was just good old fashioned investigations and working the case, and working the witnesses and working surveillance videos."
Medina-Reyes is the third out of six co-defendants to plead guilty in the case and will be sentenced on July 23.
