San Diego, CA: Man Who Killed Wife, Fled To Mexico Sentenced

Gildardo Rodriguez Stabbed Emilia Gomez, Fled With Child

POSTED: 4:41 am PDT September 8, 2010
UPDATED: 10:34 am PDT September 8, 2010

SAN DIEGO -- An illegal immigrant who fatally stabbed his estranged wife in her Linda Vista apartment, then fled to Mexico with her young daughter, was sentenced Wednesday to 16 years to life in prison.
Gildardo Rodriguez, 35, was convicted of second-degree murder last month for the June 10, 2006, death of 23-year-old Emilia Gomez. A jury acquitted Rodriguez of kidnapping.
"Once again, domestic violence has reared its ugly head ... far too often in this community," Judge Bernard Revak said before sentencing.

Deputy District Attorney Lindsey Krause said during trial that Rodriguez made good on a threat to kill his estranged wife.
The prosecutor said the defendant thought about killing Gomez before stabbing her 14 times, including two wounds to the heart, making the crime premeditated first-degree murder.
Krause said the injuries caused by a chef's knife were "focused" on the victim's body and were "injuries that said, 'I want you to die.'"
She argued unsuccessfully that Rodriguez was guilty of kidnapping for taking Gomez's 19-month-old daughter, Alejandra, from the apartment and leaving her with relatives in Mexico. Rodriguez was arrested last year in St. Louis.
Krause told the jury that Rodriguez threatened Gomez a couple of months before her death after he learned that she was dating another man named Carlos, who is believed to be Alejandra's father.
"(Rodriguez) told her, 'If I can't have you, no one will,'" the prosecutor told the jury.
On the witness stand, Rodriguez had an explanation for everything and characterized his estranged wife as an "evil, insulting" person, Krause said.
In his closing argument, defense attorney David Thompson said his client committed voluntary manslaughter, and that he wouldn't be getting off easy if the jury found him guilty of the lesser crime.
The attorney said Rodriguez was provoked the day of the killing, with his wife telling him that her new boyfriend was more of a man than he was.
Rodriguez came to the United States illegally and sent money to Gomez in Mexico, so she could save it for a home, Thompson said. The couple had three daughters together.
A year later, Gomez followed her husband to the United States and had a fourth daughter, Thompson said. She initially tried to convince Rodriguez that the baby was his, but he eventually found out she was not his, the defense attorney said.
Rodriguez treated the child like she was his own, Thompson said, but he got angry and hit Gomez in December 2005 when she got a phone call from Carlos.
On June 10, 2006, Rodriguez saw a new cell phone at Gomez's home and thought it was for him, his attorney said.
Gomez told her estranged husband, "That's not your gift. That's for Carlos," and continued to belittle the defendant, the defense attorney said.
"She said, 'You're not a man. Carlos is a man who makes me feel like a real woman. You're stupid. You're an idiot,'" Thompson told the jury.
The attorney said Rodriguez wanted to leave, but his estranged wife kept mocking him, and he remembers stabbing her at least four times. Her body was found in the Ulric Street home the next morning.