A Utah Teenager Fatally Shot His 16-Year-Old Girlfriend in the Head. Now, He Admits He ‘Acted Irrationally.’
Perry was booked into jail and is being held without bond, authorities said.
Sept. 2 2023, Published 9:30 a.m. ET
A teenager in Utah was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after he fatally shot a 16-year-old girl in the head in January.
The victim, Jacqueline “Jacky” Nunez, was shot and left abandoned on a dirt road in Piute County in January, according to KSTU.
In June, 17-year-old Francisco Aguilar pleaded guilty to aggravated murder in connection with Nunez’s murder. Because of the brutal nature of the crime, Aguilar was charged and convicted in the adult court system, officials said.
On Aug. 28, Aguilar appeared at his sentencing hearing and the case's gruesome details were recounted for the court.
The state detailed how Nunez failed to come home that night, so her family reached out to a friend, who went looking for her, KSTU reported.
The friend eventually found Aguilar and Nunez, who reportedly ran toward her friend screaming for help as Aguilar shot Nunez in the leg.
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Aguilar then fired at the friend’s car window, so she drove away. During the sentencing hearing, the friend said she has been left with severe trauma and guilt and "left with a life sentence he forced on me."
She added, "The horrifying events of that night will forever live in my head."
After Aguilar shot Nunez in the leg, he shot her in the head, killing her.
No motive for the crime has ever been revealed. When the judge asked Aguilar during sentencing why he killed his girlfriend, he responded, "There's no justification for what I did. I acted irrationally and out of anger."
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During her victim impact statement, Irma Nunez, Jacky’s mother, said, "We are currently dead while we walk alive, especially me. There's not one day that goes by where I stop thinking about my princess."
One of Jacky’s sister’s also delivered a statement, telling the court, "It would be easier to die than to live a life in which she no longer exists. From the minute I wake up, I wake up accompanied by sadness and embraced by pain."
Aguilar will serve his 25-years-to-life sentence in the Utah State Prison, officials said.
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