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Marine charged with stabbing death of his wife
A Marine stationed in Honolulu, Hawai’i was taken into custody and faces a second-degree murder charge after being accused of stabbing his wife to death.
Accused Marine, Bryant Tejeda-Castillo is currently being held on a 1 million dollar bail, said the Honolulu Police Department.
According to police, Tejeda-Castillo was arrested not long after 27-year-old Dana Alotaibi was killed along a Hawai’i freeway on Wednesday. Officials stated that the Marine was admitted to Honolulu’s Queens Medical Center to be treated for what one witness described as multiple self-inflicted wounds.
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At the time of his arrest, Tejeda-Castillo had an arrest warrant for second-degree murder issued in his name.
Police are still awaiting official autopsy results, but friends of the deceased say that she was pregnant at the time of her death.
According to the victim’s mother, Natalia Cespedes, Alotaibi was a victim of systemic spousal abuse and was able to obtain the military equivalent of a restraining order against her husband, Tejeda-Castillo.
Cespedes blames the Marine Corps for not giving her daughter all the protection she needed and holds them responsible for Alotaibi’s death.
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Cespedes said that her daughter would still be alive if the Marine Corps did not fail to intervene. “Probably because she’s a woman they don’t care,” she said. “Or she looked like crazy, they don’t care.”
The US Marine Corps issued a statement acknowledging the situation, stating:
“We can confirm that the Marine suspect’s command was engaged with both him and the victim, and were responsive to those allegations and concerns that the command was made aware of. Due to the ongoing nature of the criminal investigation, it would be inappropriate to comment further on this topic.”
One witness, George Schmidt, who was returning from a hunting trip, stopped his car near the Kapaa Quarry transfer station when he saw a woman being beaten by a man on the side of the road. “I ran there and told him to let her go,” Schmidt said. “I just seen blood all over her, she was full of blood.”
Schmidt also described the wounds that he saw on the Marine when he intervened. Schmidt claims, “I seen that guy grab that knife and poke himself in his neck twice.”
