Baltazar Perez-Estrada stabs his wife to death two weeks after illegally entering the United States after discovering she had a boyfriend. The victim, Maricela Simon Franco according to family was planning on leaving the illegal immigrant.
An illegal immigrant in Illinois who crossed the border less than two weeks ago has been accused of stabbing his wife to death, upon learning she was having an affair and planned to dump him, according to authorities.
Baltazar Perez-Estrada, 32, attacked Maricela Simon Franco at the woman’s Chicago area apartment after the couple got into an argument Sunday night when the husband discovered she had a boyfriend, prosecutors stated.
He allegedly knifed the 26-year-old woman dozens of times in her head, body, hands and neck, nearly slicing off her head, as one of the couple’s two daughters looked on, prosecutors said according to Fox 32.
Domestic violence
‘The extremely violent end to a young mother’s life is something that should touch us all,’ DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in a statement.
Following the rampage, the jilted husband walked into the Carol Stream police station on Monday and admitted to a social services worker that he killed his wife, the Daily Herald reported, citing a petition for pretrial detention.
Perez-Estrada was arrested and charged with murder.
He allegedly told the social worker that he learned she had a boyfriend before the fatal fight broke out.
One of Perez-Estrada’s daughters walked into the bedroom where the argument was happening and saw her father ‘hitting’ her mother with a knife, the petition stated.
One of the girls told the police her father got rid of the knife in a nearby pond, documents revealed.
The victim’s uncle told authorities that she was planning on leaving Perez-Estrada after nine years of marriage before she was killed, according to the petition.
Illegally entered the U.S last month
Perez-Estrada illegally entered the US from the southern border last month, but was released and given a future court date, Fox 32 reported. He previously was living in Mexico before re-uniting with his family.
‘Domestic violence continues to be a scourge on society, claiming more than ten million victims a year in some form or fashion,’ Berlin, the state’s attorney said, per reports.
‘In this case, the sad reality is, Maricela’s life has been reduced to a statistic of domestic violence due to the alleged actions of her husband, Baltazar Perez-Estrada.’
Baltazar faces first-degree murder as well as being charged by the US government with alien inadmissibility.
On Thursday, a DuPage County judge decided to deny pre-trial release for Baltazar.
He is expected in court on April 25 for arraignment and his immigration charges will be dealt with during a separate trial.
