Daniel Castro Ruesga intentionally struck Silvia Bahena-Mota’s Tesla before shooting her while her four children were home, according to police.

TOOELE, Utah — A 37-year-old Utah man has been charged with murder after police said he intentionally crashed his pickup truck into his girlfriend’s Tesla inside a Tooele garage and then shot her multiple times following an argument, while her four children were inside the adjoining home.

Daniel Castro Ruesga was charged Sept. 2 in Utah’s 3rd District Court with first-degree felony murder, four counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child and improper discharge of a firearm, according to court-related reporting reviewed in the case. The woman killed was identified by Tooele City police as 37-year-old Silvia Bahena-Mota. Police and local news accounts have described Ruesga as Bahena-Mota’s boyfriend, ex-boyfriend or former domestic partner, reflecting differing descriptions in the underlying records and interviews.

The case began shortly before midnight Aug. 31, when Tooele police received reports of gunfire in the area of Kings Landing Road and Emma Lane. Officers who reached the residence found a white Tesla inside a garage with a white Toyota Tundra pickup truck crashed into the rear of it, according to a probable cause statement and police accounts. Investigators also reported finding spent casings near the Tesla’s driver-side door. Bahena-Mota was found dead in the driver’s seat. Authorities have not publicly described every detail of the evidence recovered at the scene, and the available reports do not establish how much time passed between the collision, the gunfire and officers’ arrival.

Investigators linked the pickup to Ruesga, who was at the scene and told officers that a firearm had been left in a vehicle, according to the arrest documentation. Police said Ruesga was taken into custody and later interviewed after receiving a Miranda warning. In that interview, according to the probable cause statement, Ruesga admitted intentionally driving the pickup into the Tesla and shooting Bahena-Mota multiple times with a handgun after the two had argued. That account is an allegation contained in police and court records and has not been tested at trial. Prosecutors must still prove the criminal charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

The presence of Bahena-Mota’s four children became a central part of both the investigation and the criminal case. Police said the children were inside the home during the incident, heard what occurred and later found their mother. Early booking information referred to four alleged domestic-violence offenses connected to the children’s presence, and subsequent charging coverage reported four counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child. Authorities have not publicly released detailed accounts from the children, and responsible reporting has avoided identifying them by name. Their ages have appeared in some secondary reports, but police records reviewed for this article are sufficient to establish only that Bahena-Mota was the mother of four and that all four were in the residence.

As investigators documented the scene, friends and co-workers began identifying Bahena-Mota not simply as the victim in a homicide case but as a mother and working professional with deep ties to the Tooele community. KSL reported that she was known for her work as a nail artist and had more recently entered the mortgage business as a loan officer. Debbie Castagno, a friend and co-worker, described Bahena-Mota as hardworking and deeply committed to her children. Another friend, Ginger Mix, told the station that a relationship that began through nail appointments had grown into a yearslong friendship and remembered Bahena-Mota as warm, creative and kind.

Those interviews also added context to Bahena-Mota’s relationship with Ruesga, though they do not establish a motive for the killing. Friends told KSL that the two had been in an on-and-off relationship. One friend said there had been previous problems, while another said she never expected the relationship to end in lethal violence. The police affidavit described an argument immediately before the alleged collision and shooting, but investigators had not released a fuller explanation of what the dispute concerned. Nothing in the reviewed records establishes a broader motive beyond the argument described by police, and the differing descriptions of Ruesga as a current or former partner make it inappropriate to state a more specific relationship status as settled fact.

Ruesga also had a prior domestic-violence-related misdemeanor case, according to records reviewed by KUTV. The station reported that he had pleaded no contest in connection with a June 2025 property-damage matter involving a person with whom he lived. The offense was identified in court records as a Class B misdemeanor that was domestic-violence related. Ruesga received a plea in abeyance, was placed on probation for six months and was directed to obtain an anger-management evaluation or screening and complete any recommended treatment. The earlier matter was closed March 3, 2026. Publicly reviewed records did not establish the identity of the victim in that case. One friend told KSL she believed it involved Bahena-Mota, but that belief has not been independently confirmed and should not be presented as an established fact.

The distinction between Ruesga’s initial booking and the charges later filed in court is important. Police initially booked him while investigators were still developing the case, and news accounts from the first hours after the shooting used language such as being held for investigation of murder and child-related domestic-violence offenses. Prosecutors then filed a criminal case in 3rd District Court. KSL reported the filed charges as one count of murder, a first-degree felony; four counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, third-degree felonies; and one count of improper discharge of a firearm, a Class B misdemeanor. A separate KSL report published a day later described a somewhat different mix of firearm and child-related counts. Because charging documents can be amended and early reports can reflect different stages of a case, the most cautious description is that Ruesga faces a murder prosecution and multiple additional charges tied to the shooting and the children’s presence.

The records also show why police quickly focused on Ruesga. Investigators found a truck registered to him crashed into Bahena-Mota’s vehicle, recovered casings near the driver’s side of the Tesla and said he acknowledged the location of a firearm before later making an inculpatory statement in a post-Miranda interview. Those allegations provide the basis for probable cause but are not the same as a conviction. A probable cause finding asks whether there is sufficient reason for the case to proceed; it does not resolve credibility disputes, determine whether evidence will be admitted at trial or eliminate the state’s burden of proof. No publicly indexed report reviewed through Oct. 19 showed that a jury had evaluated the evidence or that Ruesga had been convicted.

Bahena-Mota’s death also left an immediate void for four children and a network of friends who described her work and family as central parts of her life. Friends organized financial support for the children after the killing, according to local reporting. KSL said Bahena-Mota had built a reputation through her beauty work before adding mortgage lending to her professional life. Her friends described someone who maintained close relationships with clients and co-workers and who placed particular importance on her role as a mother. Those accounts stand apart from the criminal allegations but are relevant to understanding the consequences of the homicide beyond the court file.

The investigation unfolded in a residential neighborhood where at least one neighbor told KUTV that the violence was deeply unexpected. Police indicated in early reporting that the incident was isolated rather than part of an ongoing public threat. Beyond the initial scene and the statement attributed to Ruesga, authorities have released relatively few investigative details. The public reports reviewed do not identify additional suspects, do not describe a search for another alleged shooter and do not provide evidence of a broader threat. They also do not establish what specific evidence prosecutors may rely upon beyond the physical scene, witness circumstances and Ruesga’s alleged statement.

As of Oct. 19, publicly indexed reporting reviewed for this article did not show a later trial, guilty plea, dismissal or final disposition in Ruesga’s case. The most recent reliably documented development remains the filing of criminal charges in 3rd District Court in early September. Ruesga is accused of killing Bahena-Mota, but the charges remain allegations unless proved in court. Bahena-Mota’s four children, meanwhile, remain at the center of the case’s human consequences after police said they were inside the home during the shooting and discovered their mother afterward.

Author note: Last updated October 19, 2026.