Woman Is Held in Husband’s Death

A North Hills woman was being held Friday in the stabbing death of her husband, who had a history of physically abusing her, Los Angeles police said.

Tammy Lynn Amaya, a 25-year-old mother of five children, told investigators that she stabbed her husband, Roberto Amaya, 31, in the neck with a butcher knife early Thursday because she feared he was about to assault her, Detective Tom Broad said.

The couple’s children, ages 2 to 8, witnessed the killing in the family’s tiny one-bedroom apartment in the 9000 block of Orion Avenue, police said.

Broad said the woman was being held at the Van Nuys Jail and prosecutors will be asked Monday whether to charge the woman with murder or rule that she killed her husband in self-defense.

“I think that is an issue,” Broad said of the woman’s claim of self-defense. “They have been in an abusive relationship for some time.”

After stabbing her husband, Amaya called 911 and reported the incident, Broad said. Police found a 10-inch butcher knife on the floor next to her husband’s body, Broad said.

The couple’s five children were placed in the custody of the Department of Children’s Services.

Broad declined to discuss details of the altercation that led to the death. He also declined to say what the children told investigators about the 5:30 a.m. killing of their father, but said, “I think they can be helpful as witnesses.”

Neither of the Amayas worked and the family lived on welfare, police said.

At the time he was killed, according to the city attorney’s office, Roberto Amaya was wanted on two warrants charging him with violations of his probation on two misdemeanor convictions last year of battery and spousal abuse.

The violations stemmed from his failure to provide proof that he had entered a counseling program for spousal abuse following his convictions. He had served short jail terms and had been placed on probation for the two convictions.