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OREM — A man accused of strangling his girlfriend during an argument over a vape pen has been formally charged with murder.
Daniel Padilla-Ang, 27, of Orem, was charged with the first-degree felony on Wednesday in 4th District Court.
Just after 3 a.m. on Saturday, Padilla-Ang called 911 and told emergency dispatchers, "I just strangled my girlfriend to death. She's dead … It was me," charging documents state.
When police arrived at Padilla-Ang's apartment, near 800 South and 750 West, they found the body of 20-year-old Sandra Robles in a bedroom and Padilla-Ang "kneeling in the middle of the living room with his hands on the back of his head," according to the charges.
Padilla-Ang told detectives he had been in a relationship with Robles for several months. She had come to his apartment the day before and they consumed alcohol that night. Robles had a THC vape pen that he wanted to use, and when Padilla-Ang grabbed it from her, it broke, according to the charges. This angered Robles who pushed and slapped Padilla-Ang, the charges state.
Paddila-Ang responded by strangling Robles with his hands and shaking her.
"After she passed out, he started punching her and he said, 'die,'" according to the charges. "He put his hands over (her) mouth and pinched her nose to see if she was still breathing. When she did not struggle, he knew she was dead."
According to a police booking affidavit, Padilla-Ang then took a couple of shots of alcohol and sent two text messages to family members stating that he had just killed someone and that he wouldn't be seeing them for a while, before calling 911.
Officers noted that prior to Saturday, Padilla-Ang had been arrested five times in the past eight years, including twice for domestic violence-related crimes, which he was on probation for at the time of his Saturday arrest.
Help for people in abusive relationships can be found by contacting:
Utah Domestic Violence Coalition: Utah's confidential statewide, 24-hour domestic violence hotline at 1-800-897-LINK (5465)
YWCA Women in Jeopardy program: 801-537-8600
Utah's statewide child abuse and neglect hotline: 1-855-323-DCFS (3237)
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233
