On March 30, 1992, 15-year-old Tuesday Roberts and her friend, 16-year-old Lisa Martinez, vanished while walking to the Valley Fair Mall in the Salt Lake City, Utah area. Their disappearance remained a painful mystery for their families for years. The two Caucasian teenage girls had seemingly vanished without a trace, leaving behind questions and a void in the lives of those who knew them.
The break in the case came years later, in April 1996, when a man already incarcerated for other
crimes, Roberto V. Arguelles, confessed to their murders. Arguelles, who would become known as the "Salt Lake City Strangler," was serving a life sentence for child molestation at the time of his confession. His admission to the killings was reportedly prompted by receiving a letter that informed him he was a father, which made him realize the gravity of his actions. Following his confession, Arguelles led authorities to the gravesites of Tuesday and Lisa, which were located near his stepfather's pig farm.
Arguelles revealed the horrifying details of what happened on that fateful day in March. He had offered the two friends a ride, then kidnapped them. He sexually assaulted and then strangled Tuesday Roberts. Her friend, Lisa Martinez, was brutally stabbed to death more than 40 times with a wood chisel when she resisted a sexual assault. His confession also solved the murders of two other victims, 42-year-old Margo Bond and 13-year-old Stephanie Blundell, who were killed in the weeks prior to Tuesday and Lisa's deaths.
Roberto Arguelles pleaded guilty to four counts of capital murder and was sentenced to death. He expressed a desire to be executed for his crimes. However, before his execution could be carried out, Arguelles died of natural causes in prison on November 15, 2003. His death brought a final, albeit somber, close to a case that had haunted the Salt Lake City community for over a decade.
