Corpus Christi, TX: Man who shot common-law wife and her son made previous threats

14-year-old boy and mother were killed by woman's common-law husband who shot himself


CORPUS CHRISTI — The man police believe killed his common-law wife, her son and then himself on Sunday had threatened to kill the woman and her family five years ago, according to court records.

Police said Ruben Arroyo, 34, had an argument with Crystal Cantu, 31, Saturday night and she left with her five children for her mother’s house in the 2200 block of Bolivar Street. Arroyo had spent part of the summer in California but was back living with Cantu at a home in the 900 block of Lexington Avenue, where neighbors said they recently had moved.

Police said Arroyo called Cantu several times Sunday morning but she would not take his calls.

About 3 p.m., Arroyo entered the house on Bolivar Street after his two children left with their grandmother. He shot Cantu’s 14-year-old son and Cantu in the kitchen. Both were shot once in the head. Two other children in the home escaped, including Cantu’s 13-year-old son who cut his hands breaking a window to get out of the house, police said.

Armando Cantu and Arroyo were taken to Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial with critical injuries, police said. Arroyo died shortly later. Armando, a student in the Corpus Christi Independent School District, was taken off life-support late Sunday.

On Monday, roses dotted the fence line of the house where the shooting occurred. It remained sealed off with crime tape.

Court records show Cantu sought a protective order in 2005 against Arroyo for her and her children. At the time she had a son with Arroyo and three other children.

The affidavit said the two had started dating in 2002 and separated in October 2005.

But at some point the two reconciled and had another child.

That’s not uncommon, said Frances Wilson, executive director of the Women’s Shelter of South Texas. Victims of domestic violence return to their abusers an average of seven times before they end the relationship for good, she said.

In an affidavit asking for the protective order, Cantu described Arroyo as a violent man who had physically abused and threatened to kill her several times. She said he suffered from depression and took medication.

“(He) has choked me, pushed me and twisted my arms...,” Cantu said in the affidavit.

She also detailed other incidents — one in which she said he held a knife to her neck and another in which he held her head under water in a bathtub.

Cantu, who stated Arroyo had threatened to kill their baby son and himself, sought the protective order because of an Oct. 31, 2005, incident.

The affidavit said Arroyo and one of her brothers got into a fight in front of her children about how Arroyo treated her.

The fight escalated after another of her brothers got involved and Arroyo retrieved a baseball bat from his car. At one point, Arroyo grabbed her and used her as a shield so he wouldn’t get hurt, according to the affidavit.

After he let her go, she called 911.

Cantu wrote in the affidavit that after police left, Arroyo repeatedly called her from several pay phones threatening to take away their son and kill her and her family.

“I begged him to stop threatening me and again Ruben said I would be dead,” according to Cantu’s affidavit.

Court records show Cantu received a temporary protective order but it never was finalized because Arroyo couldn’t be found and she couldn’t provide authorities with an address where he could be served with the legal papers.

Online court records show Arroyo had a criminal record that included a felony conviction for possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor convictions for theft and assault causing bodily injury to a family member.

Wilson said often women in abusive relationships won’t leave because of threats on their life or their children’s lives.

“That’s a really strong motivator to stay,” she said.

Other times it’s also because they don’t want to break up their family and hope their abuser will change.

Wilson said in Cantu and Arroyo’s case people should be asking more than just why she didn’t leave him for good.

“It wasn’t his place to end her life (or her son’s),” she said. “People need to question his behavior not just hers.”

Wilson said it takes community involvement to help break the cycle of abuse because too often people ignore signs of domestic abuse.

“It doesn’t stay in that family,” she said. “It spills out onto our streets.”

Doug Cross, principal at the Student Learning Guidance Center, said Armando Cantu came to the school at the early part of the year and was an excellent student.

“He was a nice, respectful young man who made many friends here,” Cross said. On Monday, the school’s guidance counselor met with several distraught students and consoled them.

A group of students made bereavement cards Monday for Armando’s family, he said.

“We’ve been going through a day of mourning today at campus,” he said.

“All our thoughts and prayers are with the family right now.”

GET HELP

For information on family violence and how to get help, contact the Women’s Shelter of South Texas at 1-800-580-4878 or visit the nonprofit’s website at www.thewomensshelter.org.