When Jesus Ojeda Jimenez stabbed his wife to death Friday night at their home in the Landmark Mobile Home Park, he did so in front of the couple’s three children, one of whom called 911 to summon help for his mom, The Citizen has confirmed with authorities.
Fayette County sheriff’s deputies arriving on the scene just before 8 p.m. found Jimenez’s wife, Liliana Ruiz, dead. Jimenez, 34, fled the area but turned himself in at the Fayette County Jail Saturday at the urging of his family, and he was cooperating with the investigation, sheriff’s officials said.
The deadly attack was not the first time Jimenez assaulted Ruiz. According to sheriff’s reports, on Nov. 14, 2009 Jimenez punched his wife multiple times, causing “a swollen right eye, a bloody nose, two knots on her forehead, one knot on the back of the head, numerous abrasions and bruising on her mid back, bruising on her right forearm consistent with an adult male hand, a bruise on the left knee and multiple bruises on her right ankle.”
Jimenez, who smelled of alcohol according to the deputy’s incident report, told the deputy that he assaulted his wife because he was mad at her for talking to other men.
A short time later, as he sat in the back of a patrol car on his way to the Fayette County Jail, Jimenez boasted to a deputy several times that “he would just get out on Monday and ‘Beat my wife’s ass again,’” the incident report said.
As it turned out, Jimenez stayed in jail for more than three months, and he entered a guilty plea Feb. 23, 2010 for one count of battery (family violence) and one count of cruelty to children in the third degree. The latter charge was filed because the assault happened in front of the children.
Two days after entering his guilty plea, federal immigration agents took custody of Jimenez, according to records at the Fayette County Jail. As of late Tuesday afternoon, The Citizen has been unable to confirm whether Jimenez was deported or not.
The 2009 attack also occurred in front of the children, who were 9, 7, and 2 years old at the time. One of the children also called 911 during that attack, reporting “that his daddy was killing his mommy, and she was bleeding,” according to the deputy’s incident report.
State Court victim witness advocate Laverne Barela said she recalled that Liliana Ruiz cooperated with the court and seemed to have a good family support system. Ruiz even attended court the day her husband entered his guilty plea, Barela remembered.
Jimenez was sentenced to an additional 10 days in jail and two years of probation, with a $300 fine and requirements to complete a family violence intervention program, submit to a substance abuse evaluation and avoid consuming alcohol. He was also ordered to not possess any firearms, submit to drug testing and commit no further violence.
According to court documents filed in June 2010, in the three-plus months since entering his guilty plea, Jimenez failed to participate in the family violence intervention program, complete the substance abuse evaluation, and failed to report to his probation officer or pay his fines.
A warrant for Jimenez’s arrest was issued by the court in June, but it is not immediately known whether he had been deported or whether he had somehow returned to Fayette County by that time.
