Man Held in Wife’s Stabbing Death

A Laguna Niguel man was being held on suspicion of murder Sunday after stabbing his wife to death in front of their three children, authorities said.

Responding to the daughters’ frantic calls for help late Saturday, neighbors--including an off-duty security guard--restrained the man until Orange County sheriff’s deputies arrived.

Attempts were made to revive Maria Andrade Rios, 40, but she died in the family’s apartment from knife wounds to her upper body and throat, witnesses and authorities said.

Arnulfo Perez Rios, 44, is being held without bail at Orange County Jail on suspicion of killing his wife. He is scheduled to be arraigned today.

Jeffrey Veyera, 31, who lives next door to the Rios family at the Windridge Apartments, said he was awakened about 11:30 p.m. by banging, angry shouts and a woman’s screams. He said that he called 911 and ran outside. “One of the girls came running out and said her father had stabbed her mother,” Veyera said.

Another neighbor said she saw one of the girls running up and down the driveway, pleading for help, while a sister was calling 911 on a phone she was clutching.

“The girl was screaming,” recalled Lupe Jimenez, 17. “She was running by. She was asking for help. She said that her mom was bleeding.”

Police dispatchers said they received several 911 calls within seconds: “There’s some sort of disturbance,” one caller reported. “There’s a lady running downstairs yelling for help. There was slamming. There was screaming....There was some pounding.”

As the emergency calls were made, neighbors ran into the Rioses’ apartment. Veyera and the off-duty security guard who lives upstairs sat with Rios, while two other people tried to save his wife, who was on the floor of the bedroom.

Arnulfo Rios was covered with blood and had the smell of alcohol on his breath, Veyera said. Rios was not crying, Veyera added, “but he was very, very agitated.”

Veyera said he had overheard screaming coming from the family’s apartment. Rios, he said, was angry at his wife, who had insulted him with profanity.

Veyera quoted Rios as saying: “I told her not to do it. I told her not to do it.” Veyera said that Rios later told him: “Is this real? I can’t believe this is real.”

Homicide detectives interviewed Rios on Sunday, but declined to elaborate on the couple’s argument. Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, said that the woman had been stabbed several times with a kitchen knife.

Veyera and another neighbor said they feared Rios might try to hurt himself or others. The off-duty security guard handcuffed Rios, who did not fight back, and held him until deputies arrived, Veyera said.

The couple’s daughters, ages 11, 13 and 18, went to Veyera’s home to wait for other family members; they have two brothers, a 20-year-old in the Navy and another who is a few years older. Trauma counselors also were called in to talk with the girls.

The couple has no reported history of domestic violence, said Amormino. Neighbors at the Hidden Hills Road apartment complex said Sunday that the family had never caused a disturbance.

“They didn’t seem like they ever fought or anything. Never. Nothing,” said Sunny Mathews. “They sounded like they were having a good time all the time. They seemed like a happy family.”

Another neighbor, Katie Laird, a substitute teacher at Niguel Hills Middle School who has taught two of the Rios girls, described the mother as “always smiling and very friendly.”

Investigators searched the Rioses’ home Sunday morning and seized a number of items, including a computer. One neighbor left a bouquet of pink roses and daisies.

“It happened so quickly,” Veyera. “I don’t believe there was anything we could have done. I wish we could have.”