Prosecutors said Adrian Aguilar drove through Tempe for about 45 minutes while shooting Amira Crofton after seeing messages from another man on her phone.
PHOENIX, Ariz. — Adrian Aguilar was sentenced to life in prison plus 26 years after prosecutors said he killed his girlfriend during a June 2023 drive through Tempe, shooting her repeatedly after he saw text messages from another man on her phone.
The sentence, announced this week by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, closed the trial phase of a case that prosecutors cast as a sustained act of jealousy and control rather than a sudden burst of violence. A jury in February found Aguilar guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping and two counts of aggravated assault. The case drew attention not only because of the number of shots fired, but because investigators said the victim remained trapped in the vehicle as Aguilar drove through city streets and continued shooting.
According to prosecutors and court records, the killing began on June 15, 2023, after Aguilar and Amira Crofton left work and later attended a pool party. As Aguilar drove, he saw text messages on Crofton’s phone from another man asking her to hang out. Police said Aguilar grew angry, accused her of cheating and threatened to shoot her if she did not admit it. Court records said he told investigators he felt Crofton had “wasted his time.” When she denied being in another relationship, investigators said, Aguilar shot her in the leg and kept driving. He fired again as she cried and asked to be taken home. Police said the shooting continued as the car moved toward her home in Phoenix and then back toward Tempe, turning a domestic argument into a rolling crime scene that stretched across multiple streets and several desperate minutes.
By the time the car reached the area of Broadway Road and 48th Street, the violence had spilled into public view. A witness told 911 that Aguilar got out of the car and fired multiple shots into the passenger seat while Crofton was still inside, according to police and prosecutors. Officers who arrived found Aguilar wounded from a self-inflicted gunshot and claiming that his car had been shot up by others. Investigators said physical evidence and witness accounts did not match that version. After more questioning, prosecutors said, Aguilar admitted he shot Crofton because he believed she had disrespected him. The county attorney’s office said Crofton suffered 11 gunshot wounds to her head, neck and torso, along with other injuries to her face, head and hands. What remains less clear in the public record is the exact route the car took during those roughly 45 minutes and precisely when each shot was fired as the vehicle moved through Tempe and toward Phoenix before stopping again in Tempe.
The case also carried details that explained the later kidnapping conviction. Prosecutors said Crofton was not free to leave once Aguilar began threatening and shooting her inside the car. Court records described her pleading with him to stop and asking to go home, while Aguilar kept driving instead of letting her out or taking her to safety. At one point, police said, Crofton tried to grab the gun from him, and the struggle contributed to the car hitting a curb before coming to a stop on Broadway Road. That final stop did not end the attack. Investigators said Aguilar stepped outside and fired directly into the passenger side before shooting himself as police cars approached. Early reporting in 2023 identified the victim only as an 18-year-old girlfriend, while later sentencing records named her as Amira Crofton. Across the investigation, the core account stayed consistent: the violence began after jealousy over messages on her phone and escalated shot by shot while she remained trapped beside the driver.
The procedural path took nearly three years from the night of the killing to the sentence announced this week. Aguilar was arrested after the June 2023 shooting and was eventually tried in Maricopa County Superior Court. In February 2026, a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping and two counts of aggravated assault. Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said Tuesday that Aguilar received life in prison for the murder conviction and an additional 26 years tied to the other counts. Local reporting, citing court documents, said the extra time came from a 16-year term for kidnapping and two 10-year aggravated assault terms that run at the same time rather than one after the other. Court records cited by local television also said Aguilar began serving the sentence on April 2. No separate sentencing hearing dates beyond the April announcement were highlighted in the public summaries, and no appeal filing was detailed in the reporting reviewed for this article. The next formal stage, barring later motions, is likely to be handled through the appellate process rather than additional fact-finding in open court.
Mitchell, in announcing the sentence, said, “This young woman placed her trust in the defendant, and he repaid that trust with brutal violence.” She described the killing as “callous, calculated, and rooted in jealousy,” language that matched the prosecution’s theory from the start. The public court record offers a second, quieter voice as well: Crofton’s own words during the attack, as recounted by Aguilar in police interviews and summarized by prosecutors. They said she was scared, crying and asking to be taken home as he kept shooting. Those details gave jurors a picture not just of the final outcome, but of a drawn-out killing in which the victim understood the danger and tried to survive it. Even after the car stopped and witnesses were close enough to call 911, police said Aguilar fired again into the passenger seat. The image that remained at sentencing was not of a single shot during a brief confrontation, but of repeated decisions made over time, on city streets, with chances to stop that prosecutors said he ignored.
As of this week, Aguilar is serving a life sentence with an added 26 years, and the trial court record places responsibility for Crofton’s death on a sequence that started with jealousy over text messages on June 15, 2023. The next milestone, if one comes, will likely be any appeal or post-conviction filing.
Author note: Last updated April 18, 2026.