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While serving a sentence for child molestation, Robert Arguelles, 34, confessed to being a serial killer. On May 2, 1996, four years after the disappearance of three teen-age girls from the Salt Lake City area, Robert confessed to their murders after he received a letter saying that he was a father.
The repentant slayer said: "I realise these girls were just little girls like mine.... I started to understand just how much it would hurt to have someone do what he had done". In return for fessing up, Arguelles asked for a private cell, a color TV and the death penalty.
Arguelles confessed that on March 1992 he kidnapped, sexually assaulted and strangled 15-year-old Tuesday Roberts, then stabbed her friend, 16-year-old Lisa Martinez, to death with a wood chisel. Earlier that month, he kidnapped, sexually assaulted and killed 13-year-old Stephanie Blundell. He also pleaded guilty to the February 1992 abduction and strangulation of 42-year-old Margo Bond, a janitor at a junior high school where Arguelles said he was hunting for girls.
Originally he claimed to have merely witnessed the dumping of the bodies of two of the dead teenagers. Later, in a tearful seven-hour session with his lawyer and a police investigator he broke down and admitted to the four killings.
On May 12, 1997 Arguelles -- who has spent all but three years of his adult life behind bars -- pleaded guilty to the murders and said he wanted to be executed as soon as possible. On June 20 Third District Court Judge David Young handed down the death sentence for Roberto. In a strange courtroom exchange the judge bluntly asked Arguelles: "You're asking me to sentence you to death?" To which he replied: "I am because as many years as I've been through this, no one's going to help me with this condition... I would elect to be executed by firing squad," if possible without a hood, Arguelles added.
On April 7, 2000, Arguelles told Judge David Young he was fed up with the competency hearings to determine if he is fit to die. "I'm tired of waiting," Arguelles said, "I'm having a lot of problems at the prison. A lot of people are trying to tell me I don't want the death penalty." The killer, who was sentenced to death June 20, 1997, for the brutal murders of four Salt Lake County women, was ordered to undergo a competency evaluation after he tried to hang himself with a laundry bag in his cell at the Utah State Prison on August 12, 1998. Arguelles has repeatedly stated he wishes to die for his crimes and will fight any effort to appeal his death sentences.
While serving a sentence for child molestation, Robert Arguelles, 34, confessed to being a serial killer. On May 2, 1996, four years after the disappearance of three teen-age girls from the Salt Lake City area, Robert confessed to their murders after he received a letter saying that he was a father.
The repentant slayer said: "I realise these girls were just little girls like mine.... I started to understand just how much it would hurt to have someone do what he had done". In return for fessing up, Arguelles asked for a private cell, a color TV and the death penalty.
Arguelles confessed that on March 1992 he kidnapped, sexually assaulted and strangled 15-year-old Tuesday Roberts, then stabbed her friend, 16-year-old Lisa Martinez, to death with a wood chisel. Earlier that month, he kidnapped, sexually assaulted and killed 13-year-old Stephanie Blundell. He also pleaded guilty to the February 1992 abduction and strangulation of 42-year-old Margo Bond, a janitor at a junior high school where Arguelles said he was hunting for girls.
Originally he claimed to have merely witnessed the dumping of the bodies of two of the dead teenagers. Later, in a tearful seven-hour session with his lawyer and a police investigator he broke down and admitted to the four killings.
On May 12, 1997 Arguelles -- who has spent all but three years of his adult life behind bars -- pleaded guilty to the murders and said he wanted to be executed as soon as possible. On June 20 Third District Court Judge David Young handed down the death sentence for Roberto. In a strange courtroom exchange the judge bluntly asked Arguelles: "You're asking me to sentence you to death?" To which he replied: "I am because as many years as I've been through this, no one's going to help me with this condition... I would elect to be executed by firing squad," if possible without a hood, Arguelles added.
On April 7, 2000, Arguelles told Judge David Young he was fed up with the competency hearings to determine if he is fit to die. "I'm tired of waiting," Arguelles said, "I'm having a lot of problems at the prison. A lot of people are trying to tell me I don't want the death penalty." The killer, who was sentenced to death June 20, 1997, for the brutal murders of four Salt Lake County women, was ordered to undergo a competency evaluation after he tried to hang himself with a laundry bag in his cell at the Utah State Prison on August 12, 1998. Arguelles has repeatedly stated he wishes to die for his crimes and will fight any effort to appeal his death sentences. |
