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UTAH STATE PRISON — A habitual offender already serving time for murder is accused of killing a fellow inmate during a fight inside a prison cell Tuesday.
Unified police announced Wednesday that they believe Julio Guerrero, 23, was killed by "asphyxiation and blunt force trauma" and was not stabbed to death as previously reported.
Detectives continued to investigate Guerroro's death, which includes searching for a motive.
Guerrero's cellmate, Mario Lucero, 33, who is already serving a 15-years-to-life sentence for murder, is accused of beating Guerrero to death about 2:45 p.m. Tuesday inside the cell they shared. Lucero was treated for minor injuries. Both men were housed in the Uinta housing unit, the prison's maximum security block.
"It was initially believed that Guerrero had been stabbed due to the blood at the scene and that a metal edged weapon was recovered in the cell," Unified police said in a statement Wednesday.
The prison was placed on lockdown immediate following the incident. The Promontory, Lone Peak, Timpanogos and Olympus facilities resumed normal operations Wednesday morning, but the Oquirrh, Uinta and Wasatch facilities remained on lockdown.
It was initially believed that Guerrero had been stabbed due to the blood at the scene and that a metal edged weapon was recovered in the cell.
–Unified Police statement
Police had been unable to contact any relatives of Guerrero as of Wednesday to notify them of the death, said Unified Police Lt. Justin Hoyal. Anyone with information regarding Guerrero’s family is asked to call police at 385-468-9820.
In 2014, Lucero pleaded guilty to murder, a first-degree felony, in 5th District Court for the May 2013 assault of St. George resident Jeramy Shawn Olsen, 31. In exchange for his guilty plea, misdemeanor charges and another case of assault by a prisoner were dismissed.
Olsen was killed after defending his wife, who is Lucero's sister, and her mother from a beating by Lucero during a family gathering, according to the Spectrum newspaper. The incident occurred shortly after Lucero’s release from jail on a charge he had beat up his sister on a prior occasion.
Two days after Olsen's death, California police arrested Lucero after he was found in Pico Rivera, just east of Los Angeles. Police identified him after responding to complaints that he was banging on hotel doors and asking to be let inside.
Lucero is a "habitual violent offender" and has a lengthy criminal history, according to charging documents. Since 2000, he has pleaded guilty to burglary of a vehicle and multiple assault charges. Charges of theft, robbery, burglary, kidnapping and criminal mischief against Lucero were dismissed.
Court records also show that Guerrero was convicted of felony robbery in 2010.
