DENVER — A husband has been charged with murder after his missing wife was found dead in a rural area of Adams County.
On Friday morning, Denver District Attorney Beth McCann announced that her office had charged 23-year old Jonathan Alberto Nuno-Mijangos with the murder of his 24-year old wife, Jasmin Cigarroa.
On March 10, Nuno-Mijangos called authorities to report that his wife was missing, according to an affidavit. A missing person's alert was issued the following day.
Nuno-Mijangos told an officer that he had last seen his wife at their home on the 7500 block of E. 28th Avenue on March 9 around 9 a.m. before he left for work. He claimed that around 10 a.m., she texted him to say she was going out with friends later that day. Nuno-Mijangos said her car and phone were still at their home, according to an affidavit.
On March 10 at 6:17 p.m., a neighbor called the Denver Police Department to report that somebody else in the apartment complex had told him about hearing a loud bang the day prior — "like someone had been thrown" — and saw Nuno-Mijangos move his wife's car out of the garage and put his car inside, according to an affidavit. Police responded to the home, but nobody answered.
During this investigation, police were able to talk with the neighbor who heard the noise. They learned that the neighbor had heard a loud boom, which "sounded as if a body hit (the) floor," around 11 a.m. on March 9 and Nuno-Mijangos's dog barking, according to an affidavit.
Authorities also learned that Cigarroa had logged into work on March 9 at 5:30 a.m. and never logged back out, according to an affidavit.
Police spoke with one of Cigarroa's friends, who said they had plans to meet on March 9 at 7 p.m. but hadn't heard from her and when she arrived at the apartment complex, she couldn't reach Cigarroa, according to an affidavit.
In an interview with Nuno-Mijangos, he told authorities he never left home after returning home from work on March 9, but when asked about pings from his cell phone around midnight near Tower Road and Smith Road, he said he had stopped on Smith Road before returning home, according to an affidavit.
Based on this information, authorities searched the area where his cell phone had pinged off the cell phone towers.
On March 12, they discovered her body in a rural area of Adams County near E. 26th Avenue and Powhaton Road. Her body was wrapped in a black plastic bags with duct tape. Loose grass and dirt was placed on top "in an attempt to conceal" it, according to an affidavit.
Nuno-Mijangos faces charges of first-degree murder, first-degree assault, tampering with a deceased human body and abuse of a corpse.
Police said the killing "appears to be a domestic violence-related homicide."
In a previous report, police learned that Cigarroa had reported Nuno-Mijangos for physically assaulting her during an argument in which he grabbed her throat while pinning her to the bed and held a lanyard across her throat, making it difficult to breathe, according to an affidavit. Nuno-Mijangos was charged with second-degree assault in this case.
The Denver Office of the Medical Examiner said the cause and manner of Cigarroa's death remains under investigation.
Anyone with information about Cigarroa's death is asked to contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.
