Man sentenced to life in prison for killing girlfriend over texts from another man

PHOENIX — A 23-year-old man was sentenced to life in prison plus 26 years for fatally shooting his girlfriend 11 times while driving around Tempe in June 2023.

Prosecutors said that Adrian Aguilar shot 19-year-old Amira Crofton over the course of 45 minutes after seeing a text message from another man on her phone. Aguilar demanded Crofton tell him whether she was cheating and threatened to shoot her if she didn’t.

She denied it, and he opened fire.

The couple had been together about three months, according to court documents as reported by the Arizona Republic in 2023. On the day of the shooting, they had left a pool party in Tempe, where Aguilar told investigators he had consumed several drinks and snorted a gram of cocaine.

After seeing the texts, Aguilar shot Crofton in the leg near Rural and Broadway roads, then continued driving and shooting her at multiple locations, including once near her home. Crofton cried and asked him to stop. At one point she tried to grab the gun, causing the car to crash into a curb.

Aguilar then exited the vehicle and shot Crofton multiple times before turning the gun on himself as police arrived.

He initially claimed the car had been shot up by someone else but later confessed, telling investigators he believed Crofton “had disrespected him,” according to prosecutors.

Crofton was shot in the head, neck and torso, along with multiple injuries to her face, head and hands.

A jury in February convicted Aguilar of first-degree murder, kidnapping and two counts of aggravated assault.

“This young woman placed her trust in the defendant, and he repaid that trust with brutal violence,” Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said. “His actions were callous, calculated, and rooted in jealousy.”

Aguilar reported to a Department of Corrections facility on Tuesday.

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