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Sexual predator deported to Mexico hauled back to US for assault and murder of American mom
Miguel Angel Urbano-Vazquez has been convicted of aggravated first-degree murder for the 2002 rape and killing of Sharon Van Gilder in Washington state. His conviction brings a decades-long effort to hold him accountable to a significant point, and offers relief to Van Gilder’s family.
Van Gilder, a 39-year-old mother of two, was last seen leaving a Tacoma bar with Urbano-Vazquez and another man; her body was found hours later near Spanaway. DNA linked her case to three other rapes in the area, and Urbano-Vazquez was captured abroad in 2023 and extradited in 2025. A jury convicted him on 3 November of the murder and rape charges relating to the other women; sentencing is set for 11 December, and aggravated murder in Washington carries life without parole.
In short
- Urbano-Vazquez was convicted of Van Gilder’s 2002 murder.
- DNA connected the case to three other rapes.
- He faces sentencing on 11 December.
Explained simply
In Washington state, aggravated first-degree murder is a serious form of murder that can carry a sentence of life in prison without parole. A conviction means a jury has found the defendant guilty; the judge decides the sentence later.
Sharon Van Gilder was a 39-year-old mother of two who disappeared after leaving a bar in Tacoma in 2002. Her body was found near Spanaway, and DNA evidence connected the case with rapes of three other women in the area.
Miguel Angel Urbano-Vazquez was later deported to Mexico, where he was captured in 2023 and returned to the United States to face charges. The case matters to Van Gilder’s family and to the women whose assaults were linked by DNA, as it has taken many years to reach a verdict.