Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — The man charged with aggravated murder in the 2021 shooting death of his former girlfriend, a radio host for a local station, was ordered to stand trial on Thursday.
Gabriela Sifuentes Castilla, 38, was shot multiple times and killed in the doorway of her home on Oct. 17, 2021. She was better known as Gaby Ramos, a radio host for a local Spanish-language radio station called La Mas Picosita (KMRI 1550 AM), and was a well-known member of the Hispanic community.
Manuel Omar Burciaga Perea, 37, was ordered to stand trial on charges of aggravated murder and aggravated burglary, both first-degree felonies, in addition to aggravated assault and domestic violence in the presence of a child, both third-degree felonies.
The ruling followed testimony from Gaby Sifuentes' sister, Rocio Sifuentes, her sister's husband and two officers.
Rocio Sifuentes testified that her 8-year-old niece was in the Taylorsville home during the fatal shooting, in a neighboring room along with her 18-year-old niece. She said she went with her nieces and Juan Hernandez, now her husband, to a van Gogh exhibit the evening before while her sister was going to a party. She said her sister told her before the party that her ex-boyfriend, Burciaga, would be there.
About 1:15 a.m. on Oct. 17, 2021, Rocio Sifuentes said she heard voices and arguing and could tell it was her sister's voice and possibly Burciaga's. She left her room to try to help and told Burciaga to leave, suggesting talking the next day.
"He was yelling at me, and he was so angry with my sister," she said.
Three videos taken on Rocio Sifuentes' phone that night were shown in the courtroom. They show Gaby Sifuentes pushing Burciaga out of the home, shouting, and Hernandez getting involved.
She testified that Burciaga was asking for a ring he had given Sifuentes, although the two were not officially engaged at any point. At one point, Burciaga was locked out of the home, but Rocio Sifuentes said he cracked a window and continued hitting the door. After her husband opened the door to try to reason with him again, she said Burciaga went into the room her nieces were in and grabbed something, saying it was the ring, and left.
At that point, Rocio Sifuentes called 911 to report what had happened, telling the dispatcher that Burciaga had left and that it had been scary.
About 15 minutes later, when there was a knock on the door, she asked in English who was there, thinking it would be the police. When there was no answer, she said she knew it was Burciaga and called 911 again. As the second call was played during the hearing, Rocio Sifuentes was emotional along with other family and friends in the courtroom.
In the call, the sister didn't even say the whole address of their home before she went silent, and chaos could be heard in the background.
In court, she testified she went to help her sister — catch her when she fell down — but then Burciaga pointed the gun at her. She left her sister behind, going to the bedroom to tell her husband what was going on. She testified on Thursday that she wanted to hide with him.
"I tried to hide myself into my closet, told husband to hide because he's going to kill us too," she said.
She said it was minutes later when they left the room and found Burciaga had left, and her sister was on the floor with blood. She said Hernandez lifted up her sister's head and held it.
Her husband, Hernandez, took over the call, telling dispatchers that Burciaga had left and that Gaby Sifuentes had been shot in the head. He testified that when he told the dispatcher about the shot, he heard Rocio Sifuentes start crying.
He said he saw Gaby Sifuentes take her last breath as the first officer arrived at the scene.
Zachary Johnson, who worked at the Taylorsville Police Department in 2021, said it was probably less than a minute between the call going out and when he parked about a block away from the family's home.
He said he could tell Rocio Sifuentes and Hernandez were not suspects, and he put his rifle down and started doing CPR. Body camera footage of him showing up at the home was played on Thursday. In the video, he asks where Burciaga went and what vehicle he had.
Johnson testified that Gaby Sifuentes was shot "several times in the chest" and once in the head.
Garrett Tan, a detective with the Taylorsville Police Department, testified about the crime scene and marks made from bullets around the room. He said there were three shells outside the home and four inside the home, showing seven shots were fired.
Burciaga's attorney, Christine Seaman, argued against the domestic violence charge, claiming there is no evidence the criteria for the charge were met because Gabriela Sifuentes and Burciaga were not living together. She also said the aggravated burglary charge and the aggravated murder charge are duplicative, as both claim he entered the home to commit an assault, and he should not be charged twice for that.
Deputy Salt Lake County prosecutor Ken Grigg argued that each charge involved a different action and should stand.
Third District Judge Mark Kouris determined that there is enough evidence for each charge at this stage in the proceedings. However, he said merging the charges might be discussed later on.
A charge for obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony, was dropped by prosecutors ahead of the hearing.
