Missing Saratoga Springs man charged with murdering his wife

SARATOGA SPRINGS — A Saratoga Springs man who went “missing” after his wife of 19 years was found dead in a trailer has now been charged in connection with her death.

Alvaro Jose Urbina Rojas, 57, was charged Monday in 4th District Court with murder, a first-degree felony.

On Feb. 27, Saratoga Springs police were notified that Urbina and his wife, Jeusselem Elieth Genes Vitola, 43, hadn’t been seen by family members or heard from since they left their home the previous day. The couple left their home about 10 a.m. on Feb. 26 and Urbina was going to drive his wife to work after they dropped off their 11-year-old child with family, according to charging documents.

But the wife never arrived at work and neither one has been heard from since, police say.

Using license plate reader technology and “pinging” their cellphones, investigators learned that on the afternoon of Feb. 26, the couple’s SUV “traveled south through Cedar City, St. George and into Las Vegas. Through further investigation, officers obtained documentation showing that (Urbina’s) debit card had been used in several transactions along the same route,” according to the charges.

Urbina’s cellphone also “pinged” in the Draper area about 2:40 a.m. on Feb. 28, police say.

“In speaking with family members, detectives learned that Jeusselem and Alvaro owned a trailer that was stored in Draper. Upon learning where the trailer was stored, law enforcement determined that the trailer was stored in the same approximate area where Alvaro’s cellphone had pinged,” the charges state.

On March 2, detectives served a search warrant on the trailer and discovered Genes’ body, in addition to the cellphone.

Her “hands were bound with a zip-tie, and there was a rope wrapped tightly around her hands and body,” the charges state. “The results of an autopsy showed that Jeusselem died as the result of severe blunt force trauma to the head, and that there were indications of possible asphyxiation. The medical examiner found that the manner of death was homicide.”

On March 3, investigators learned that the couple “had been experiencing significant financial problems for approximately the last year, causing serious strain on their relationship,” according to the charges. Detectives said they learned that Genes had recently informed her husband that she wanted a divorce.

Family members told detectives that Urbina “had become very jealous and suspicious” of his wife and had been following her. Detectives believe Urbina may have “purposely tampered” with his wife’s vehicle to make it inoperable, “thus forcing her to ask (him) for a ride to work, potentially for the purpose of giving himself the opportunity to kill Jeusselem,” according to court documents.

Police tracked Urbina’s debit card purchases and believe he was in southern California on Feb. 26 and the evening of Feb. 27.