Phoenix police ID man stabbed to death in domestic violence incident, girlfriend accused
Police identified the man they said was stabbed to death by his girlfriend during a fight in a west Phoenix home on Monday.
Phoenix Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Mayra Reeson confirmed Thursday that a man who officers found dead with numerous stab wounds on the driveway of a West Valley home Monday was 50-year-old Jose Virgil Deleon. Reeson stated in a press release that Deleon’s girlfriend, 52-year-old Esperanza Bautista Valencia, was arrested on Monday in Deleon’s death.
Officers responded to the house, located near 52nd and Windsor avenues, around 12:10 p.m. Monday after Bautista Valencia called 911 responders and told them she had stabbed her boyfriend, Reeson wrote.
Upon arriving at the house and finding Deleon's body, officers took Bautista Valencia into custody “without incident,” Reeson stated.
Bautista Valencia told police that she and her boyfriend had gotten into a verbal argument the night before his death, and then she drank beer and whiskey a few hours later around 3 a.m. on the morning of the incident, according to court documents.
Court records stated that Bautista Valencia told officers that she and Deleon started to argue again that afternoon, when she believed her boyfriend would leave her. Deleon then pushed her to the ground, she said in court documents.
Records stated that in response, Bautista Valencia retrieved a knife from the kitchen and threatened to kill Deleon because he had touched her. She admitted to cutting her boyfriend’s right arm with the knife before stabbing him in the chest in court documents.
When she rolled Deleon over and saw that his chest was bleeding, Bautista Valencia called 911, according to records. Court documents also stated that Bautista Valencia said she attempted to wash blood off the knife in the kitchen sink in a panic before placing it on the ground next to her boyfriend’s body.
The couple had lived together for two years and had a record of domestic violence incidents involving arguments and alcohol abuse, court documents showed.
In court documents, Bautista Valencia said she had threatened Deleon with knives before, in addition to becoming angry at “everyone,” including her boyfriend, frequently. In the past, she had also been arrested in domestic violence incidents in Chicago and California, one of which also involved a knife.
In addition to accusations of first-degree murder, Bautista Valencia was booked into a Maricopa County jail on one count of aggravated assault and one count of tampering with evidence. Her bail was set at $1 million, and she was set to appear in court next on May 28.
Detectives were still investigating the incident, Reeson wrote.
Madeline Nguyen is a breaking news reporter at The Republic. Reach her at Madeline.Nguyen@gannett.com or 480-619-0285. Follow her on X @madelineynguyen.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix Police ID Jose Deleon as victim stabbed to death by girlfriend
