Miami, FL: Man arrested after allegedly stabbing wife to death

MIAMI (WSVN) -- Police have arrested a man who had barricaded himself inside an apartment after allegedly stabbing his wife to death.

At approximately 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, a City of Miami police officer responded to the report of a woman who had suffered multiple stab wounds at 135 NW 26 Ave. She was found under the awning of an apartment at the back of a home. "A woman was here in a blood bath," said Miami Police spokesperson Kenia Reyes. "It all stemmed from domestic violence."

A neighbor said the attack happened right in front of her. "I saw it," said the neighbor. "She came running, and he stabbed her with the knife, three times, right inside her."

The woman would later lose her life at Jackson Memorial Hospital, according to police. Police later identified the victim as 33-year-old Eileen Lozano. She was the wife of 49-year-old Lazaro Bernabeu, who has a lengthy history of domestic violence, and had barricaded himself inside the home the couple shared.

Though critically wounded at the scene, Reyes said, Lozano was able to tell responding officers that her 10-year-old daughter was in the home with her husband, who had only recently been released from jail.

More officers from the Miami Police Department, along with Miami Fire Rescue responded, and MFR transported the woman to JMH in critical condition where she would later die.

Her common-law husband then barricaded himself inside the apartment. SWAT was then called to the scene.

At around 11:25 in the morning, as negotiators were talking with Bernabeu, he told negotiators that he wanted to say goodbye to his 11-year-old son, who was at school at the time. SWAT then moved in, using a battering ram to knock in the door and took the man into custody.

The girl inside the home ran out of the home unharmed, as SWAT moved in to take Bernabeu into custody.

The property happens to be owned by Miami Fire Lt. Angel Sotolongo. His aunt was living in an efficiency at the back of the house, along with his cousin and her two children. Miami Fire Lieutenant Ignacious Carroll said, "When he heard the call go out on the radio, that's what set the buzzer of that 'Oh, my God, this is my house.'"

Sotolongo also appeared at the scene, later seen carrying the 10-year-old girl in his arms after she escaped the home following the raid by SWAT. "He's very relieved," Carroll said. "This is his goddaughter, so almost like his own daughter. That was his biggest concern while he was here. He was concerned about his cousin that was at the trauma center, but his main concern was that little girl."

Police noted that Bernabeu had a lengthy criminal history involving domestic violence that included Battery and kidnapping. Now he stands charged with first-degree murder. "It appears the man has an extensive criminal history, possible domestic violence from the past," noted Reyes. "Now, I'm hearing from family members and police that indeed that man was in jail, and her own family took him out of jail to reunite him with the family, and this is where we're at today."