Fremont County Jury Convicts Toni Gurule of Two Murders in 2022 Phantom Canyon Case

Description: A Fremont County jury convicted Toni Gurule of two counts of second-degree murder in the 2022 deaths of Rodulfo Santillan-Reyes and Ryan Roth in Phantom Canyon...

JURY CONVICTED TONI GURULE OF MURDER  

On September 2, 2026, a Fremont County jury convicted Toni Gurule of murdering Rodulfo Santillan-Reyes and Ryan Roth and dumping their bodies down a steep, rocky cliff in Phantom Canyon.  Rodulfo “Rudy” Santillan-Reyes was shot three times by two separate firearms and struck on the head with a metal wrench found down the cliff.  Ryan was shot one time through his skull.  The murders occurred in the early morning hours of February 8, 2022. Their bodies were discovered just hours later when three citizens spotted a bright piece of clothing Ryan was wearing when he was murdered.  Ryan and Rudy were bound with zip ties found at the scene.  

The jury heard evidence that Ms. Gurule had been enraged by some songs recorded by Ryan and sent to her insulting her and her wife, Suzzette Salyer, just hours before the murder.  Ms. Salyer pled guilty to second degree murder and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.  Ms. Gurule and Ms. Salyer engaged the assistance of career criminal, Anthony Fogle, to provide “muscle” for the adventure.  Mr. Fogle testified in Ms. Gurule’s trial in exchange for a sentence reduction on his plea of guilty to second degree murder.  

The jury deliberated for less than two hours and returned a verdict of guilty on two counts of second degree murder (the top charges) and two counts of accessory to murder.  

Judge Lauren Swan disqualified the 11th Judicial District Attorney’s Office from the case after defense attorney Josh Tolini alleged that the District Attorney’s office was slow to provide information the defense deemed relevant to their case.  12th Judicial District Attorney Anne Kelly was appointed as a special prosecutor just three weeks before the start of trial.  The 12th Judicial District Attorney’s Office consists of six counties in Colorado’s San Luis Valley.  According to jail calls obtained from Ms. Gurule, Mr. Tolini believed that a small, rural DA’s Office could not be adequately prepared to try the complicated case in such a short period of time and refused to agree to a continuance to allow for preparation.  Mr. Tolini’s strategy failed when the rural District Attorney’s Office was able to coordinate 32 witnesses, over three hundred pieces of evidence and a team of forensic experts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s crime lab in Quantico, Virginia in time for the start of trial.    

District Attorney Anne Kelly said of the convictions “Ms. Gurule and her defense team messed around and found out.  Colorado prosecutors will move mountains to obtain justice for the families of murder victims in this State.  Our small but mighty team with the critical assistance of the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation fought hard to provide Ryan and Rudy’s families with some measure of peace four years after their devasting loss.  It was a true honor to be able to give that to them.  Ms. Gurule will now get to spend a significant portion of her life ruminating about how she almost got away with it.”  

Ms. Gurule will be sentenced on November 6, 2026.

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