Man sentenced to life in prison after wife's body found in rural Adams County

DENVER — A man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after his wife's body was found near a road in a rural part of Adams County in 2021, according to the Denver District Attorney's Office.

Judge Ericka Englert sentenced Jonathan Nuno-Mijangos to life in prison after a jury convicted him of first-degree murder, first-degree assault, tampering with a deceased body and abuse of a corpse on Wednesday.

In mid-March 2021, the Denver Police Department announced that it was searching for Nuno-Mijangos's wife, 24-year-old Jasmin Cigarroa, who had been missing since March 8 . A few days later, her body was found and Nuno-Mijangos, who was 23 at the time, was taken into custody . At the time, police said the killing "appears to be a domestic violence-related homicide."

She had been strangled, the district attorney's office said.

Courtesy family member

On March 19, 2021, Nuno-Mijangos was charged with murder. According to an arrest affidavit released around the same time, officials said Nuno-Mijangos called authorities on March 10 to report that his wife was missing. He 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 the affidavit.

On March 10, 2021 at 6:17 p.m., a neighbor called Denver police 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, 2021 and Nuno-Mijangos's dog barking, according to an affidavit.

Courtesy Denver Police Department

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.

Nuno-Mijangos told authorities in an interview that 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. That was where, a few days later, they discovered Cigarroa's body wrapped in a black plastic bag with duct tape near E. 26th Avenue and Powhaton Road. Loose grass and dirt was placed on top "in an attempt to conceal" it, according to an affidavit.

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 neck, making it difficult to breathe, according to an affidavit. Nuno-Mijangos was charged with second-degree assault in that case.

On Thursday, after the jury convicted him on the charges related to Cigarroa's death, Nuno-Mijangos was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“Jasmin Cigarroa was a hard-working, intelligent and loving woman whose death at such a young age, and at the hands of her husband, was a terrible tragedy," said Denver District Attorney McCann. "I want to commend the members of my office and the Denver Police Department who worked on the case, as well as the members of the jury, for holding Mr. Nuno-Mijangos accountable for this senseless murder. I hope the result of this case provides some measure of comfort to Jasmin’s friends and family. It is also my hope that this case reminds everyone in Denver that there is still much more work to be done to address the scourge of domestic violence.”

If you are somebody you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available 24/7. Call 800-799-7233 or text BEGIN to 88788 to reach the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

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