Man connected to 2015 stabbing, strangulation death pleads guilty

A second defendant who took part in a fatal attack on a man whose bound body was found in an SUV near Park City in 2015 has pleaded guilty to amended charges.

Jose Antonio Rojas, 30, will be sentenced June 15 for aggravated assault and aggravated battery, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office. He pleaded guilty Monday before he was to be tried on more severe counts of first-degree premeditated murder and aggravated kidnapping, according to court records.

Rojas is one of five people arrested in connection with the Dec. 23, 2015, death of 42-year-old Moises Arias-Aranda. Authorities have said Arias-Aranda was lured to a house in the 100 block of West 24th Street North in Wichita in retaliation for an alleged rape, then was beaten, strangled and stabbed 36 times. His attackers wrapped electrical cords around his feet and hands and left his body in a maroon Ford Explorer parked in the 5100 block of North Hydraulic.

He was discovered dead on Christmas Eve. A piece of cloth tied to look like a noose was beside his body.

Three other defendants – Amelia Wilson-Ramos, Gabriel Lara and Aubrey Cole – are awaiting trial for their alleged roles in Arias-Aranda’s killing. A fifth, Olivas Diego, was ordered to serve an 18-year, 10-month prison sentence after he pleaded guilty last year to second-degree intentional murder and kidnapping.

This story was originally published May 1, 2017 at 5:38 PM with the headline "Man connected to 2015 stabbing, strangulation death pleads guilty."