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SALT LAKE CITY — A jury has found Frank Paul Reyos guilty of killing 16-year-old Kenyatta Winston and dumping his body in a vacant lot.
Reyos, 32, was convicted of aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, and possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, a third-degree felony, after just under three hours of jury deliberations in 3rd District Court on Friday. He will be sentenced at 3 p.m. Jan. 12.
Winston was found shot to death in a vacant lot at 1120 E. Crandall Ave. (2900 South) the morning of Aug. 29.
A flurry of arrests came in the weeks that followed as police worked to piece together where Winston had been before he died and who had seen him. Investigators believed he may have been partying and doing drugs in a hotel room, where he and Reyos got into an argument.
Natasha Alvarado testified in a preliminary hearing last year 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.
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2 men charged with murder of Kenyatta Winston
Two men arrested in connection with the shooting death of a 16-year-old boy in August have been charged with murder.Alvarado had remained in the car, later found smeared with Winston's blood, and was talking with David Angel Montes, now 23, when she heard the gunshot, she said.
Montes, suspected of borrowing and driving the getaway car, had been charged with murder but was later ordered to stand trial for reduced charges of obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony. A scheduling hearing is scheduled for Oct. 27.
Charging documents indicate that after Alvarado found out Winston had been killed, she went to a room at Zion's Motel, 1829 S. State, "where she and others with Kenyatta had been staying over the weekend and partying" and "cleaned the room to destroy any evidence that linked Kenyatta to the room and to them."
Alvarado, 34, was charged with obstructing justice, a second-degree felony, but those charges were later dismissed.
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 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. He also ran two red lights, charges state.
Police eventually forced the vehicle to stop and took Reyos into custody.
