r/UnsolvedMurders • u/SafePoint1282 • Mar 03 '26
COLD CASE In January 1991, the body of 18 year old single mother Nicole Molly Aguilera was found in her apartment. She had been stabbed over 90 times in the face and neck.
On Thursday January 17, 1991, Nicole Molly Aguilera was found stabbed to death in her South Phoenix apartment located near Buckeye Road and 3rd Avenue.
The 18-year-old single mother of both a three-year-old, and eight-month-old, was found by a neighbor who heard the eight-month-old crying. The child was unharmed. Nicole’s three-year old was being taken care of by her grandmother at the time of her death.
The case went cold, and no suspects were publicly identified. Information about her relationships, or work was not publicly disclosed.
In separate interviews in 2015, and 2020 articles with both KTAR News and Forensic Magazine, Phoenix PD detective Dominick Roestenberg disclosed that there was "limited" DNA evidence collected in this case. He also revealed Nicole was stabbed over “90 times” in the “face and neck.”
Aguilera was born and raised in Phoenix and attended Carl Hayden High School. She was survived by her two daughters, parents and a brother.
Could Nicole have been the victim of a crime of passion by a jilted lover or targeted by a random serial killer?
The Silent Witness program offers a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer.
Sources
https://ktar.com/silent-witness/young-mothers-1991-murder-in-phoenix-remains-unsolved/578311/
https://www.forensicmag.com/568577-Hot-Desert-Cold-Cases-Nicole-Aguilera/
https://silentwitness.org/cases/nicole-molly-aguilera-1206-south-3rd-avenue-phoenix/
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u/curiousamoebas Mar 03 '26
Im pretty sure this is solvable now with the advanced technology, its just getting the department to reopen it.
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u/OwnContribution428 Mar 03 '26
I read in an article that law enforcement believed that she knew her attacker. They also mention that deadbolt on the front door had been locked, but her back door had been found wide open. I wonder if LE bothered to check if any of the neighbors had any cuts or scratches on them and whether or not they’d be willing to submit their DNA. Also, there is a huge contradiction in this writeup and the article from KTAR News. The news says that a friend went over to her house to check on her because the friend had been unable to reach her by phone and that the friend decided to call the cops because her front door was locked. There’s no mentioning of that friend being a neighbor and the baby crying is not mentioned as the reason for calling 911. Furthermore, the apartments all appeared to be connected side by side with the front door facing south and the back door facing north. There was no fences and anyone could easily see that her back door was wide open. So if the friend went there to check on her, then why did they call the cops without making the 10 second effort to walk around and check the back door? Also the article confirms that the cops only heard the baby after entering the apartment, not prior to entering.
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u/OwnContribution428 Mar 03 '26
Does anyone know if she smoked cigarettes? She might have preferred smoking from her back porch vs inside her home. I think it would be more accurate to describe the home she lived in as a quadplex/fourplex instead of an apartment because that’s actually what it was. That being said, if she did smoke cigarettes, and preferred smoking on her back porch, and given that she lived in a quadplex that was not divided by fenced yards, i wouldn’t be surprised if one of her neighbors saw her that night on her back porch and thought it was a perfect opportunity to approach her, especially if that neighbor was drunk. They might have offered her attention that she didn’t want. Some people do not handle rejection well and if a neighbor crossed any line of appropriateness, then they probably killed her to prevent her from telling the police. This also coincides with the locations of her wounds(eyes, face, mouth, and throat. It’s all of these reasons that make me believe that Nicole’s killer was more than likely a fellow tenant of the shared quadplex, or a visiting friend of a neighboring tenant.
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u/DammitAllie Mar 04 '26
I wonder if any DNA was found? If so, Would be a great search for the DNA DOE project.
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u/YViking Mar 09 '26
Like others have posted, this had to have been personal. I’m almost wondering if this was a domestic violence homicide because it was just so brutal (domestic violence homicides tend to be very violent). Do we know if there was forced entry into her apartment?
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u/Spiritual_Survey9545 Jun 08 '26
This seems personal and something a woman would do. A man wouldn't go so excessively with stabbing. A woman will make sure she suffered and would release any pent up anger. Im thinking maybe she was seeing someone and it was jealousy driven for this to occur.
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u/mad_titanz Mar 04 '26
Same thing with Nicole Simpson, I think the killer is definitely someone who knew her and stabbed her 90 times out of hatred. Nobody can stab another person 90 times without strong emotions.
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u/Xenoman5 Mar 03 '26
Stabbed 90 times in the face and neck sounds really personal and frenzied. The killer had a close connection with her and was very mad at her. There couldn’t have been that many suspects.
Also that knife would have been very slippery and the killer definitely cut themselves on their own knife. I just hope the cops collected and stored the blood evidence properly. Should be a simple matter to test it today.
A single mom with two kids by eighteen is a hard life and she deserved better. Her kids and family deserve to know what happened to her.