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SALT LAKE CITY — A man who killed a Salt Lake teenager and left his body in a vacant lot was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Third District Judge Robin Reese handed down the sentence to Frank Paul Reyos, 33, who was found guilty last year of killing 16-year-old Kenyatta Winston. The teen was found shot to death in a vacant lot at 1120 E. Crandall Ave. (2900 South) in August 2012.
In the hours before he died, investigators believe Winston may have been partying and doing drugs in a hotel room, where he and Reyos got into an argument.
Natasha Alvarado testified during a preliminary hearing that Winston and Reyos seemed to work things out the next day, but when the group drove to Sugar House looking for something they could steal, Reyos turned a gun on Winston.
Alvarado had remained in the car, later found smeared with Winston's blood, when she heard the gunshot, she said. When Reyos returned, he told Alvarado that Winston "tried to rob the wrong people," she testified.
The teen's body was found three days later.
Reyos is still facing charges of possession of a firearm by a restricted person, a second-degree felony, as well as failure to respond to an officer's signal and aggravated assault, both second-degree felonies, after allegedly leading police on a chase when they attempted to arrest him two weeks after Winston's murder.
Reyos allegedly rammed the car he was driving into a police cruiser and drove away, with speeds reaching 95 mph, when they attempted to stop him on Sept. 11, 2012.
A trial on those charges is scheduled for August.
Reyos has a criminal history dating back to 2000, when he was charged with wrongful appropriation and aggravated robbery. He has also faced charges of theft, fleeing a police officer, damaging a jail and providing false information to police. He was listed as Utah's most-wanted fugitive in 2009 and was arrested when he showed up in Ute Tribal Court to get married.