Police identify Riverdale mother whose death sparked an Amber Alert

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

Police identified Mayra Catalan-Dimas, 23, as the woman found dead in a Riverdale trailer fire on Monday.
Her children were missing, and an Amber Alert was issued that afternoon for their safety.
Ricardo Trujillo Rojel, their father, was arrested for investigation of aggravated murder and arson.

RIVERDALE, Weber County — Officials have identified the woman who was killed earlier this week just hours before an Amber Alert was issued for her children.

Firefighters responded to a trailer home fire at Riverdale Manufactured Home Community, 1050 W. 5100 South, on Monday afternoon and located Mayra Catalan-Dimas, 23, unresponsive inside.

After being taken out of the smoke-filled trailer, police found severe burn marks on her and located a puncture wound on her neck. She died from her injuries.

"It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we share the tragic loss of our beloved daughter, sister, mother, and friend," a fundraiser* for Catalan-Dimas says. "Her absence has left a void that words can't express."

While investigating, police determined her death to be a homicide and deemed the fire was arson.

Investigators at the scene "found the fire was caused by an accelerant, and a gas can was located inside of the trailer," according to a police booking affidavit. Police also reported finding a pair of blue jeans with blood on them.

Catalan-Dimas' two children were discovered missing from the home, along with their father and her boyfriend, Ricardo Trujillo Rojel. Riverdale police issued an Amber Alert for the two children, with Trujillo as the suspect.

About three hours later, the alert was canceled when Trujillo was located in Hobble Creek Canyon after an individual reported seeing his vehicle. The two children were placed under the care of Child Protective Services and then released to family, Riverdale police said.

Blood was found inside the man's truck, and Trujillo "resisted arrest and assaulted an officer," then "continued to physically resist deputies at Weber County Jail" and was "uncooperative with CSI and a blood technician when he was served with warrants," according to the affidavit.

Trujillo, 29, is accused of aggravated murder and aggravated arson.

Trujillo was sentenced to 180 days in prison in 2021 for an assault conviction related to choking and punching Catalan-Dimas, who was pregnant at the time, according to court documents.

In January, Trujillo was arrested for investigation of possession of a controlled substance, property damage and domestic violence in front of a child. According to the police booking affidavit, Trujillo broke a window and picture frames from off the wall while under the influence of drugs and in front of two children.

Domestic violence resources

Help for people in abusive relationships can be found by contacting:

Utah Domestic Violence Coalition: Utah's confidential statewide, 24-hour domestic violence hotline at 1-800-897-LINK (5465)
YWCA Utah Survivor Services: 801-537-8600
Utah's statewide child abuse and neglect hotline: 1-855-323-DCFS (3237)
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233

*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.