Published: August 29, 2008 12:00 am            

Stabbing victim identified; suspect charged with murder

A woman stabbed to death Thursday at a local hotel, was the victim of a man's jealous fit of rage, according to police reports.

The victim has been identified as Sophia Santos-Montelongo, 27, Noble.

The suspect, Juan Antonio Yanez-Escobedo, 34, was arrested and charged Friday with first-degree murder.

According to court documents, police responded at 1:16 p.m. to the Super 8 Motel at 2600 W. Main St. to find the victim near the sink/bathroom area of a room. She was transported by EMSStat to Norman Regional Hospital, where she died shortly after her arrival of multiple stab wounds to the chest and abdomen, officials said.

The defendant, Yanez-Escobedo, had several blood stains on his shirt and a wound to a finger that was bleeding. The defendant was transported to the police department and interviewed with the assistance off an interpreter, police said. Yanez-Escobedo admitted to snorting cocaine on several occasions prior to the assault, police said.

Both the victim and the defendant worked at the hotel, police said. Yanez-Escobedo said he went to Santos-Montelongo's room carrying a knife in his back pocket. He told police he and Santos-Montelongo "were romantically involved and that he was jealous of her involvement with other men."

"The defendant stated that he and the victim became involved in an argument which culminated in him pushing the victim to the ground," police said.

Yanez-Escobedo said he "blacked out and the next thing he remembered was kneeling next to the victim, the victim bleeding and the defendant's knife on the floor, next to the victim," police said. He said he ran to the hotel's front desk and had the motel manager call 911.

A witness told police she saw Yanez-Escobedo run from the room toward the front desk. The woman said she and her sister entered the hotel room, observed the victim lying on the floor and asked her what had happened. The victim "repeated the defendant's name, 'Antonio,' over and over to her," the report states.

Yanez-Escobedo is being held in the Cleveland County Detention Center.

Tom Blakey 366-3540 tblakey@normantranscript.com

        

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