EAST ORANGE, NJ – A man who was found guilty of killing his ex-girlfriend and desecrating her remains is going to prison for 30 years.
“Union County Superior Court Judge John Deitch imposed the term on 28-year-old Tyler Rios, handing down a 25-year sentence on his aggravated manslaughter conviction and a 5-year consecutive sentence for desecrating human remains,” the Union County Prosecutor’s Office reported. ” Rios must serve at least 85% of the 25-year term on the aggravated manslaughter before the possibility of parole on that count, then must serve the additional 5-year term before being eligible for release Judge Deitch ruled.”
The July, 2021 incident that resulted in a widely broadcasted Amber Alert launched a multi-state investigation which led to the recovery of the child and the discovery of Uyar’s body in Tennessee.
“An investigation led by the Union County Prosecutor’s Office – and assisted by members of the FBI’s Newark Field Office and satellite offices, the New Jersey State Police, and the Rahway Police Department – led to Rios being identified as the suspect in the case after their son Sebastian Rios did not show up for daycare on July 9th and Uyar did not arrive for scheduled work shifts, according to Union County Assistant Prosecutor Robert Grady, who prosecuted the case,” police said. “A welfare check was conducted on Uyar’s home by members of the Rahway Police Department, but no one was found inside, Grady said.”
The UCPO released the following details of the events that unfolded next:
Shortly thereafter, the State Police issued an Amber Alert that was sent to privately owned cell phones, broadcast on electronic billboards along highways in New Jersey and beyond, and widely shared via social media.
Through the persistent efforts of the Union County Prosecutor’s Office and the above agencies — as well as a result of the extraordinary assistance from the Putnam County Tennessee Sheriff’s Office and the FBI’s Memphis Field Office and satellite offices – Sebastian Rios was found unharmed in Monterey, Tennessee on July 10th, when Tyler Rios was taken into custody. Later in the day, investigators located Uyar’s body in a wooded area nearby, off of Interstate I-40.
An autopsy performed on Uyar revealed that her death resulted from strangulation and blunt force trauma. The investigation subsequently revealed that, on July 8th, Rios killed Uyar in her Rahway home before placing her in the trunk of her car, then taking their son and fleeing to Tennessee.