February 9 Killer. The February 9 Killer is an unidentified suspected serial killer believed to be responsible for the 2006 murder of Sonia Mejia and her unborn baby and the 2008 murder of Damiana Castillo in Salt Lake County, Utah. The murders were committed on the same day, February 9, hence the name.

'There it is. The missing link,'" said Jay Henry, Director for the Utah Crime Lab.

That's what happened when they did lab tests on two seemingly unrelated murders two years apart, discovering that the same suspect committed both crimes.

Now police have one "John Doe" they're calling the February 9th Killer because both incidents happened on the same day.
Sonia Mejia was the pregnant mother of an 8-year-old boy when she was sexually assaulted then strangled in her Taylorsville apartment on Feb 9, 2006. Some of Mejia's jewelry was stolen, but those items never resurfaced and despite assistance from federal agents, the case went cold.

Exactly two years later and a few miles away in West Valley City, Damiana Castillo was found dead in her home. Police investigated her death, but leads quickly dried up and the case stalled.

Then in 2009, analysts with the Utah Crime Lab made a startling discovery: DNA taken from both scenes proved the same man killed Castillo, Mejia and Mejia's unborn baby. Now detectives are working to identify the killer and connect a name and face to the DNA, but the suspect has no prior history in any criminal database. Detectives believe the suspect is Latino and, at the time of the murders, may have been young - possibly even a teenager - when the women were killed because he isn't in any databases.

Anyone with information about the deaths is asked to contact Unified Police at 801-743-5850.



TAYLORSVILLE — Prosecutors have filed two counts of aggravated murder in connection with the slaying four years ago of a woman and her unborn son.

Rather than filing against a person, however, the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office has filed a charge against a "John Doe" with a specific DNA profile. It's believed to be the first time such a charge has been filed in a homicide case in Salt Lake County. By filing a charge linked to a DNA profile, prosecutors will now be alerted anytime a match is entered into a national criminal database.

Sonia Mejia, 29, who was six months pregnant, was strangled to death inside her Taylorsville apartment at 1167 W. Clubhouse Drive (4000 South) on Feb. 9, 2006. She was the first victim of what became known as the "February 9th murders." On the same date, exactly two years later and just a short distance away from where Mejia was killed, Damiana Castillo, 57, also was strangled inside her apartment near 4000 South and Redwood Road.