SALT LAKE CITY — Samantha VanTreese said she still struggles to understand why someone would kill her younger brother, Ivan “Nick” Vetecnik. While she considers the guilty plea from Rowdy Lee Aguilar a step toward justice, she strongly disagrees with the court’s acknowledgment of Aguilar’s mental condition.

“He knew what he was doing,” VanTreese said. “He deserves to rot.”

According to a press release from the office of Salt Lake County District Attorney Sam Gill , Aguilar, who was 17 at the time of the crime, pleaded guilty to stabbing 15-year-old Ivan Vetecnik 26 times and then dismembering his body in 2021.

VanTreese described the attack as brutal and deeply personal.

“He did this with a kitchen knife,” VanTreese said. “That is personal. My brother was a big boy.”

She believe

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