Renton man sentenced to 16-plus years for Sequim-area killing

Alejandro J. Aguilera Rojas, a 25-year-old Renton man, was sentenced on May 16 in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 200 months in prison for second degree murder for the beating death of a 21-year-old woman, U.S. Attorney Nick Brown announced last week.

The victim, a resident of California the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office identified as Dioneth Lopez, had traveled to the Seattle area to meet up with Rojas; the two traveled to the Olympic National Forest near Blyn on Feb. 10, 2020.

“This cruel and cold-hearted attack robbed a family of a young and vibrant daughter, sister and niece,” U.S. Attorney Nick Brown said. “Law enforcement, prosecutors, and our specially-trained crime victim advocates have worked diligently to get justice for the family of this young woman.”

Investigators said Rojas beat and stabbed Lopez, with whom he was having an affair, and left her for dead on a U.S. Forest Service road.

According to the criminal complaint, Rojas, a married man, was having a relationship with Lopez.

Rojas picked up Lopez from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Feb. 10 and took her to Sequim to meet friends for a planned hiking trip, FBI Special Agent Colleen Sanders said in the complaint.

Investigators said Rojas was hiding his relationship with Lopez from his wife and family.

Lopez and Rojas stayed at the Longhouse Market near 7 Cedars Casino for about seven hours on the evening of Feb. 10, spending much of the time in Rojas’ red Chevy Silverado pickup truck, according to the store’s surveillance footage.

Lopez’s body was discovered Feb. 14 in the Buckhorn Wilderness at the end of Forest Service Road 28-280.

There was no identification on the body.

Law enforcement reviewed surveillance video at a Sequim convenience store and determined a woman and a man, later identified as Rojas, had visited the store. Law enforcement was able to determine that Rojas’ cell phone and the victim’s phone had been in the area of the murder on Feb. 10 and Feb. 11, and that both phones had then traveled back to the area of Rojas’ residence after the victim had been killed and left in the Olympic National Forest.

The autopsy of the victim by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the manner of death as a homicide and the cause of death by multiple blunt and sharp force injuries.

Because the murder occurred on federal land in the Olympic National Forest, the case was prosecuted in federal court.

Rojas pleaded guilty to second degree murder in December 2021.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, with significant assistance from the Washington State Patrol.