On September 8, 2015, 23-year-old Emily Quijano and her 3-year-old son, Gabriel Almiron, disappeared from Provo, Utah. The extensive and thorough investigation led to Emily’s boyfriend, Christopher Poulson, as the prime suspect. In April of 2016, seven months after Emily and Gabriel’s disappearance, Poulson’s car was tracked down by investigators. GBK9SAR’s K9 Rekker was called in to assist and sniff the car for the odor of human remains. Rekker “indicated” strongly on the trunk area three times. After additional investigation, in 2017, Poulson was located and arrested in Hawaii for the murders of Emily and Gabriel. Poulson was brought back to Utah and incarcerated pending trial, but the remains of Emily and Gabriel had still not been located. GBK9SAR teams participated on many searches, clearing vast desert areas until in September of 2019, nearly 4 years after the murder, Poulson finally confessed to investigators. Poulson admitted that he had, in fact, murdered Emily and Gabriel and transported their bodies in the trunk of his vehicle before burying them in a shallow grave in Juab County. Poulson pleaded guilty and was sentenced in September of 2019 to consecutive sentences of at least 15 years and up to life for the charge of murder, and one to 15 years on the second degree manslaughter charge.
The following video clip is from the Utah County Attorney’s Office press conference acknowledging the support and contribution of K9 Rekker and his Handler (at 17 min 35 sec) https://www.facebook.com/abc4utah/videos/468603643690194
