Washington man sentenced to 16 years in beating death

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A federal judge on Monday ordered a King County man to serve 16 years in prison after he was convicted of beating and bludgeoning to death a Northern California woman who traveled to the Seattle area and was engaged in an intimate relationship with the married suspect.

Alejandro J. Aguilera Rojas, 25, of Renton, was sentenced to 200 months in prison after he was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2020 slaying of the 21-year-old woman, KOMO-TV reported.

Her body was found on Valentine’s Day in the Olympic National Forest. He pleaded guilty to the murder charge last December, prosecutors said. Aguilera Rojas was having a sexual relationship with the victim but was hiding it from his wife and family.

Aguilera Rojas picked up the woman at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Feb. 10, 2020. Her identity has not been publicly disclosed. The two traveled to Sequim, prosecutors said.

At some point, he attacked the woman, killing her by beating and stabbing her. A broken and bloody tequila bottle, box cutter, and knife were located near the victim’s body. There was no identification on the body.

Her body was found on Feb. 14 in the Olympic National Forest off of an arterial road in the Buckhorn Wilderness.