Midvale, UT: Police: Man admits to strangling wife in Midvale

Crime » Officer says an electric cord was used in death of 26-year-old mother of two.
By Lindsay Whitehurst
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 05/06/2010 11:02:16 PM MDT

A man admitted to strangling his wife to death Thursday morning in Midvale, police said.
When officers arrived at the apartment, near 7900 South and Main Street, Carlos Augusto Soto-Lopez walked outside and held out his wrists to be handcuffed, said Midvale police Sgt. Marcelo Rapela.
"I'm tired. I killed her," Soto-Lopez said.
Sandra Paulina Hernandez, 26, was found on the living room couch, covered with pillows and a blanket, Rapela said. Hernandez had been strangled with an electric cord -- possibly a cell phone charger cord, Rapela said.
Soto-Lopez told police he covered her body so their two daughters, 4 and 8, would not see it, Rapela said. Soto-Lopez claims the girls were asleep in the apartment at the time of the killing, Rapela said. Soto-Lopez had the girls taken out of the apartment before he called police.
Soto-Lopez, 28, first called police at 8:30 a.m. to report his wife had not come home the night before. A few minutes before the officer arrived, the woman returned home, Rapela said.
At 10 a.m., police received a second call in which a man said only, "I need cops here," and hung up. A GPS locator tracked the phone to Soto-Lopez's apartment. Soto-Lopez surrendered to officers as soon as they arrived, Rapela said.
Officers do not know where Hernandez was during the night, Rapela said. The couple's marriage was common-law, he said.
This was not the first complaint of domestic violence police have received from the couple's home, Rapela said. In March 2008, Hernandez walked from the apartment to the police station, which is next door. She said her husband damaged the door jamb to the bedroom and tried to strangle her with an electrical cord but she escaped, Rapela said.
Soto-Lopez was then charged with simple assault, domestic violence in front of a child, damaging a communication device and criminal mischief, all misdemeanors. He pleaded guilty to the first two charges; the other two were dismissed.
"They seemed like a normal couple," said their 14-year-old neighbor, Daisy Peña. Peña said the two daughters sometimes visited her apartment to play, and Hernandez often came over to watch TV.
Peña described Soto-Lopez as "kind of an angry guy" who would bark at his daughters when he wanted them to come home.
Neighbor children who gathered outside the apartment said Hernandez was generous to them.
"She gave us food and candy," said Juliana Estrada, 9.
Denise Lopez, 11, said she sometimes went to yard sales with Hernandez, who would give her money to buy things.
"She used to be nice to me," said 8-year-old Diana Lopez.