Tyler Rios
UNION COUNTY, NJ — Tyler Rios, 28, of East Orange, who previously admitted to killing his estranged girlfriend, was sentenced to 30 years in state prison on Friday, June 10, Union County Prosecutor William A. Daniel announced June 14.
Union County Superior Court Judge John Deitch imposed the term, handing down a 25-year sentence on his aggravated manslaughter conviction and a five-year consecutive sentence for desecrating human remains. Rios must serve at least 85 percent of the 25-year term on the aggravated manslaughter before the possibility of parole on that count, then must serve the additional five-year term before being eligible for release.
On April 4, Rios, charged with the death of his estranged girlfriend and the kidnapping of their son in an incident that resulted in a widely broadcasted Amber Alert in July 2021, pleaded guilty to the two counts listed above. Rios’ actions in July 2021 launched a multistate investigation, which led to the recovery of the child and the discovery of the body of 24-year-old Yasemin Uyar, of Rahway, 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 his and Uyar’s son did not show up for daycare on July 9, 2021, and Uyar did not arrive for scheduled work shifts, according to Union County Assistant Prosecutor Robert Grady, who prosecuted the case. A welfare check was conducted on Uyar’s home by members of the Rahway Police Department, but no one was found inside, Grady said.
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 efforts of the UCPO and the above agencies — as well as a result of assistance from Tennessee’s Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, and the FBI’s Memphis field office and satellite offices — the child was found unharmed in Monterey, Tenn., on July 10, when Rios was taken into custody without incident. 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 8, Rios killed Uyar in her Rahway home before placing her in the trunk of his car, then taking their son and fleeing to Tennessee.
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