Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 59F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..
Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 59F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.
Junior Solis Garcia sits in a wheelchair and listens to an interpreter during his arraignment in Lawrence District Court Thursday on charges that he killed his wife, Mariel Ramos De Los Santos, in their South Lawrence apartment.
A candlelight vigil for Mariel Ramos De Los Santos will take place at 12 Diamond St., Lawrence, on Friday night at 6 p.m.
Friends and family of Junior Solis Garcia sit in the courtroom during his arraignment on charges that he killed his wife, Mariel Ramos De Los Santos, early Monday morning.
Junior Solis Garcia sits in a wheelchair and listens to an interpreter during his arraignment in Lawrence District Court Thursday on charges that he killed his wife, Mariel Ramos De Los Santos, in their South Lawrence apartment.
Junior Solis Garcia sits in a wheelchair and listens to an interpreter during his arraignment on charges of killing his wife, Mariel Ramos De Los Santos.
A candlelight vigil for Mariel Ramos De Los Santos will take place at 12 Diamond St., Lawrence, on Friday night at 6 p.m.
Junior Solis Garcia sits in a wheelchair and listens to an interpreter during his arraignment in Lawrence District Court Thursday on charges that he killed his wife, Mariel Ramos De Los Santos, in their South Lawrence apartment.
A candlelight vigil for Mariel Ramos De Los Santos will take place at 12 Diamond St., Lawrence, on Friday night at 6 p.m.
Friends and family of Junior Solis Garcia sit in the courtroom during his arraignment on charges that he killed his wife, Mariel Ramos De Los Santos, early Monday morning.
Junior Solis Garcia sits in a wheelchair and listens to an interpreter during his arraignment in Lawrence District Court Thursday on charges that he killed his wife, Mariel Ramos De Los Santos, in their South Lawrence apartment.
Junior Solis Garcia sits in a wheelchair and listens to an interpreter during his arraignment on charges of killing his wife, Mariel Ramos De Los Santos.
A candlelight vigil for Mariel Ramos De Los Santos will take place at 12 Diamond St., Lawrence, on Friday night at 6 p.m.
LAWRENCE — In a wheelchair, wearing a hospital gown with his hands and forearms tightly bandaged, a Diamond Street man was arraigned for the stabbing murder of his wife in their South Lawrence apartment early this week.
Junior Solis Garcia, 39, was held without bail after his arraignment in Lawrence District Court Thursday afternoon.
A police officer in the Dominican Republic, Garcia is charged with killing his wife— the mother of their four children, Mariel Ramos De Los Santos, 30, in their apartment at 12 Diamond St., number 11, authorities said.
Garcia’s defense attorney characterized the case as “self-defense” and said De Los Santos initially attacked her husband after returning home from a trip to the Dominican Republic.
He said his wife attacked him and stabbed him in the stomach as they were arguing. She continued stabbing him, he told police, until he was “forced to defend himself.”
But he could not remember what they were arguing about and said he was not trying to kill her, according to a police report.
Relatives of De Los Santos, however, told investigators Garcia was very controlling and abusive. There was history of domestic violence between the couple documented by both Lawrence police and the state’s Department of Children and Families, according to police reports.
Garcia had been drinking and using white powder for three days prior to the incident, one of his children told investigators.
The kids also said their mother previously obtained divorce papers in the Dominican Republic, where the couple married in 2010, according to a report.
De Los Santos was found by police in the couple’s bedroom after Garcia dialed 911 at 3:04 a.m. Monday morning.
Garcia, in Spanish, told a dispatcher, “There is a dead person at this address. Come,” authorities said.
Officers said De Los Santos was “in the fetal position on the floor” and “was cold to the touch and stiff.” She was officially pronounced dead at 4 a.m. at Lawrence General Hospital, according to a detective’s report.
The couple’s four children were all home at the time of the incident. Their oldest child, age 13, opened the door for police Monday morning when they couldn’t force their way in due to a dead-bolt lock, police said.
They were not physically injured and a police report noted “none of the children were seen with any blood on their body or clothing.”
Per a prosecutor’s request, Judge Holly Broadbent ordered Garcia not to have any contact with his wife’s relatives and his children while the criminal case is pending.
The children are in the custody of De Los Santos’ parents now, authorities said.
De Los Santos had 14 cuts and stab wounds on her body. The most significant injury was to her left shoulder where a stab wound “went through the shoulder into the left chest cavity, the upper lobe of left lung, the pulmonary artery of the heart, through the esophagus, and the lower lobe of the right lung,” according to a trooper’s report which detailed her autopsy results.
In court Thursday, defense attorney James Krasnoo said Garcia had been cared for in the intensive care unit at Lawrence General Hospital prior to his arraignment. He said Garcia’s wounds were “still infected” and asked the judge to send him back to the hospital for “immediate treatment.”
Krasnoo also told Broadbent not to send Garcia to Middleton Jail, the county lock-up. He asked for a private sidebar discussion with the judge and Assistant District Attorney Breanna Doud to discuss the matter.
Why Garcia shouldn’t go to Middleton Jail was never discussed in open court during the arraignment.
Broadbent, however, ordered Garcia held without bail and never issued any exemption for Middleton Jail or to return Garcia to the hospital.
Follow staff reporter Jill Harmacinski on Twitter @EagleTribJill.
Home delivery and Digital Access customers of The Eagle-Tribune get deals for restaurants, hotels, attractions and other businesses, locally and across the country.
Your guide to local shopping, eating and living in and around North Andover.
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.
Sign up now to get our FREE breaking news coverage delivered right to your inbox.
First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.