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Once-Deported Illegal Alien Kills Female Deputy

The fallen deputy has been identified as Deputy Sheriff Josie Greathouse Fox of the Millard County Sheriff’s Office.

Update: Millard Country Sheriff Robert A. Dekker has informed the media that the shooter, Roberto Miramontes Roman, is a Mexican national, has been previously arrested for theft charges and has been previously deported from the United States as an illegal immigrant.

A Millard County sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed early Tuesday, and a statewide manhunt for the suspect may have narrowed down to a few blocks of west Salt Lake City.

Deputy Josie Greathouse Fox was gunned down about 1 a.m., during a traffic stop a mile east of Delta. Her body was found by a second deputy, who was responding to a request for backup. Fix, a mother of two, had been with the Millard County Sheriff’s Department five years.

Related: Manhunt for Fugitive After Utah Officer’s Murder

Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Jeff Nigbur identified the “prime suspect” sought in the shooting as Roberto Miramontes Roman. He is described as a 37-year-old Latino, 5-foot-7, 130 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

Deputy Sheriff Josie Greathouse Fox

Roman is possibly armed with an AK-47 assault rifle, and is considered dangerous. Anyone with information on Roman’s whereabouts is urged to immediately call 911.

“We have information that he’s not going to be taken alive,” Nigbur said.

Roman has a significant criminal history, including drug offenses, and a court-ordered illegal-immigration-related deportation.

Millard County officials said the suspect vehicle, an orange Corvette, had been stopped as part of an investigation into recent thefts. The suspect had sped away from the scene by the time the second deputy arrived.

The search the suspect quickly focused to Salt Lake City, where police found a vehicle — believed to be the Corvette — near 300 South and 1100 West. Police also were keeping a lookout for Advertisement a gray 1995 Cadillac Deville, license plate number 713-PAB, that the suspect may now be driving.

By 7 a.m., SWAT officers were seen in the area of 300 South and 1100 West. Police would not confirm that they may have located the suspect, though it appeared a containment area was being set up. Two local schools — Guadalupe and Franklin — were closed and traffic through the area blocked while officers went door-to-door, searching for the suspect.

Nigbur said three SWAT teams were deployed in the area, focusing on “two or three” homes believed to be occupied by relatives of the suspect. No neighborhood evacuations were immediately ordered, however.

Roman has a criminal history beginning in 1992 with a misdemeanor drug distribution charge to which he pleaded guilty in Fillmore’s 4th District Court.

Then in 1996 and 1997, Roman was charged in Millard County with a handful of felonies in two different cases, including drug charges, receiving stolen property and a weapons count.

He resolved the cases by pleading guilty to one count of third-degree felony drug possession and one count of second-degree felony drug possession with intent to distribute.

He was sentenced to prison for up to 15 years in June 1997.

Roman was paroled Sept. 15, 1998, and apparently completed his parole successfully, according to Utah Board of Pardons and Parole spokesman Jim Hatch.

Court records show that at the time the crimes were committed, Roman was a resident of Delta. All three cases were investigated by the Millard County Sheriff’s Office.

Meanwhile, in Millard County, law enforcement ordered closure of U.S. 50 in both directions just east of Delta as their investigation into the slaying got under way this morning. The road has since been reopened, according to the Utah Department of Transportation.

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