Sexual predator deported to Mexico hauled back to US for assault and murder of American mom
Miguel Angel Urbano-Vazquez, who was previously deported to Mexico before being extradited back to the U.S., was found guilty earlier this month of aggravated first-degree murder in the March 2002 rape and strangulation of 39-year-old Sharon Van Gilder in Washington state.
- A serial rapist from Mexico who murdered an American woman more than two decades ago and terrorized other women in the United States has finally been brought to justice.
- KILLER’S CHEWING GUM BLOWS OPEN 40-YEAR-OLD MURDERS, DETECTIVE WARNS THERE MAY BE MORE VICTIMS She went on to say, "He's such a violent, violent person." The Pierce County Prosecutor's Office said, "In 2012, DNA tests linked the 2002 rape and murder of Sharon Van Gilder to three other nearby rapes.
- In addition to murder, he was convicted of rape charges stemming from attacks on three other women in the Tacoma area during the same year, bringing an end to a decades-long effort to hold him accountable for the crimes.
Suspect Miguel Urbano-Vazquez was captured abroad in 2023 and extradited in 2025, when a DNA sample could be taken and compared to the 2002 samples." DNA FROM CHEWING GUM NAILS LONGTIME SEXUAL PREDATOR DECADES AFTER REIGN OF TERROR: REPORT A jury found Urbano-Vazquez guilty on Nov.
- We thanked them because their testimonies were key in getting the guilty plea." SIGN UP TO GET THE LATEST TRUE CRIME NEWS In Washington, the punishment for a charge of aggravated murder is life in prison without the possibility of parole.
- LISTEN TO THE NEW 'CRIME & JUSTICE WITH DONNA ROTUNNO' PODCAST Prosecutors said Van Gilder was the first victim in a series of violent sexual assaults that unfolded between March and October 2002.
- KILLER UNDONE BY DECADES-OLD THREADS — GLOVE, TOWEL AND SHIRT STITCH TOGETHER COLD CASE JUSTICE Hours later, her naked and badly beaten body was discovered on the side of a road in Spanaway, southeast of Tacoma.
- YOGURT SHOP MURDERS FUEL FAMILY QUESTIONS ABOUT ACCOMPLICE AS RAGE LINGERS OVER WRONGFULLY ACCUSED "I'd wake up in the middle of the night thinking about it," Doty said.
- "I'm sure [from the time] when he was in Mexico, there are more [victims]," she said.
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