Thursday, February 4, 2010 10:43 PM EST
By LISA BACKUS
Staff writer
NEW BRITAIN — The husband of a Brighton Street woman found dead in their home Thursday morning is being held as a fugitive from justice in North Carolina and is expected to be charged with her murder when he is extradited to Connecticut, police said.
Juan Palafox, 32, was captured Thursday in North Carolina after police put out an alert a few hours after his wife Dia Palafox, 30, was found dead in their kitchen at 91 Brighton St. The couple’s three young children were home at the time Dia Palafox was killed but were unaware of what happened, Capt. Matthew Tuttle said.
“Later in the morning as we were gathering information we knew the victim was married and we were looking for her husband,” Tuttle said. “We developed information at the home and had enough to get a warrant for violation of a restraining order. The Cumberland County Sherriff’s Office in North Carolina saw the vehicle and pulled it over.”
Police said Thursday night they have a warrant for Juan Palafox’s arrest on murder charges. He is being held in North Carolina without bond and will be extradited to Connecticut in the next few weeks. He was initially held on a violation of a restraining order charge. When he returns to Connecticut, he will face a $5 million bond, police said. Dia Palafox was found about 8:30 a.m. Thursday by a relative. After medical emergency crews determined that she had died, police retreated from the house and sought a search warrant for the residence.
New Britain Superior Court granted Dia Palafox a restraining order against her husband Jan. 27, according to Tuttle and court officials. “We had been at the home shortly before the restraining order was put in place, but no one was arrested,” Tuttle said. “I don’t believe we’ve had much interaction with him in recent years.”
Juan Palafox was arrested in 2002 following an argument with his pregnant girlfriend where he allegedly threatened the 23-year-old woman with an eight-inch knife while holding her by the neck. Dia Palafox was not the woman Juan attacked in 2002, Tuttle said.
Court records did not specify the disposition of that case. Police are waiting for confirmation from the Office of the State Medical Examiner before releasing the cause of death, but Tuttle said there were signs of trauma at the scene.
Dia Palafox is believed to have died either Wednesday night or Thursday morning. Police declined to comment on the ages of their children. Three young boys walking near where police had blocked off Brighton Street said they knew the family from school and often played with the couple’s sons in the summer.
“I like their mom, she was a nice person,” said one child who appeared to be about eight-years-old. “I can’t even imagine what that would be like.”
Members of the Connecticut State Police Central District Major Crimes Squad arrived in the early afternoon to assist with processing the crime scene. The New Britain Police Department Patrol and Criminal Investigations Divisions and the New Britain State’s Attorney’s Office were continuing the investigation Thursday night, police said.
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