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MURRAY — A Utah man recently convicted of murder — who avoided going to trial on a second murder charge as part of a plea deal — is now facing more charges accusing him of shooting a man the day before he shot and killed another man.
Nestor Del Valle, 18, was charged Thursday in 3rd District Court with aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony; eight counts of firing a gun, a third-degree felony; and possession of a gun by a minor, a class B misdemeanor.
On Sept. 9, 2022, police say a teenager went to the area of 1250 East and 6600 South to buy marijuana cartridges. The teen "dropped a pin" for his location to meet the seller. A short time later, two SUVs arrived and Del Valle, who was 17 at the time, got out of one of the vehicles and said, "Do you remember me?" according to the new charges.
The boy who was there to buy drugs and his friend started running and then "heard gunshots."
The boy told police he hid in a backyard until he felt it was safe to come out. He then went to grab his phone out of his back pocket. That's when he "noticed a bullet hole in his back pocket and his cellphone was damaged," according to the charges.
The boy also told detectives Del Valle had a "beef" with him because he called Del Valle's girlfriend a derogatory name. He also claimed about a day prior to that shooting, Del Valle "had shown up to a drug deal with one of (the boy's) friends and held a gun to his friend's head demanding to know where (the boy) was," the charges state.
Detectives recovered eight shell casings from the scene. Investigators also served a search warrant on Del Valle's social media accounts and found a conversation between him and Christian Rodriguez just prior to the shooting asking Rodriguez to get a car and meet him.
Del Valle "told Rodriguez to 'pull up at the spot and we'll plan it there,'" according to the charges.
Rodriguez was a co-defendant in one of Del Valle's two murder cases, but no formal charges have been filed against him in the new case.
The charges filed Thursday are the latest in a lengthy criminal history involving Del Valle that included a particularly violent rash of crimes in September of 2022.
On Sept. 10, 2022 — just one day after the shooting in Murray — Del Valle and Rodriguez are accused of shooting and killing 17-year-old Bryan Galicia during an attempted carjacking in Salt Lake City. Both were charged with murder.
Five days after Galicia was shot, on Sept. 15, 2022, Del Valle is accused of shooting and killing Len Robles, 16, of Midvale, near 650 W. Wasatch Street. He was charged in that case with murder, a first-degree felony, and illegal discharge of a firearm, a third-degree felony.
On Jan. 17, Del Valle pleaded guilty to murder for the Robles killing in exchange for the other murder case being dismissed, according to court records. Rodriguez pleaded guilty at that time to murder in the Galicia killing. Both men are scheduled to be sentenced in March.
Police say by the Sept. 10, 2022, killing, both suspects were already well known to police and had been in the juvenile justice system. Rodriquez, despite being just 16, had already acquired an extensive juvenile criminal history, prosecutors say.
