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OGDEN — Returned to Utah from Mexico last year, a man suspected of brutally stabbing his girlfriend to death and leaving her body in a cemetery in 2008 has been ordered to stand trial.
Gutberto Heras-Corrales, 40, is charged with first-degree felony murder in the death of his former girlfriend, Noemi Rodriguez, a 26-year-old mother of three. Police believe Rodriguez was stabbed to death on Christmas Day before her body was found buried in the snow Dec. 26, 2008, by a snowplow driver at the Huntsville Cemetery.
According to an affidavit, Rodriguez was stabbed multiple times in the neck and throat.
As the couple's relationship deteriorated, Heras-Corrales had been kicked out of Rodriguez's Layton home on Dec. 18, 2008. Two days later, Heras-Corrales and his former live-in girlfriend got into a fight at an Ogden bar that resulted in him being kicked out of the bar, court documents state.
Hours after the fight, prosecutors believe Heras-Corrales burned down Rodriguez's mobile home in Davis County. No one was home at the time. He is charged in that case with aggravated arson, a first-degree felony.
Rodriguez told friends that Heras-Corrales had threatened to burn down the mobile home and she was making plans to move to California out of fear for her safety, according to charging documents. Family members told police Heras-Corrales had become increasingly abusive and threatened to kill Rodriguez, according to the affidavit.
Heras-Corrales is believed to have fled the country shortly after the killing. On July 10, 2009, an arrest warrant was issued charging him with aggravated murder, a first-degree felony. Another warrant had been issued shortly after the mobile home fire.
Heras-Corrales was arrested by Mexican authorities in Culiacan, Sinaloa, in January 2013 and detained until he was extradited to Utah in July 2015. At the time of Rodriguez's death, authorities said Heras-Corrales was in the country illegally and had a history of aggravated re-entry into the United States.
Heras-Corrales will return to Ogden's 2nd District Court in the murder case on May 12. His next hearing in the arson case is April 19 in Farmington.
Help available
Help for people in abusive relationships can be found by contacting the YWCA's Women in Jeopardy program at 801-537-8600, or the statewide Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-897-LINK (5465).
