Pedro Grajalez (Hartford Police Dept.)
A 52-year-old man in Connecticut was arrested over the weekend after he allegedly stabbed his wife to death for having an affair, sent photographs of the body to her “new boyfriend,” then drove her corpse to the local police station where he allegedly confessed to the killing — and even showed officers the pictures he had taken of his wife’s body.
Pedro Grajalez was taken into custody on Sunday and charged with one count of murder in the slaying of 57-year-old Nilda Rivera, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
According to an affidavit of probable cause from the Hartford Police Department, Grajalez at about 3:22 p.m. on April 16 entered the HPD headquarters located in the 200 block of High Street. Upon his arrival, police say that Grajalez “advised front desk officers that he stabbed his wife.”
“Grajalez proceeded to show Hartford Police Officer Alexander Oralaza a photograph on his cellular telephone of a female with multiple stab wounds,” the affidavit states. “Officer Oralaza asked Grajalez where the female was, and he stated that she was in a vehicle outside of the police department.”
The officer immediately detained Grajalez and then located the vehicle he had described, which was indeed parked directly outside of HPD headquarters.
Police say they then discovered an adult female victim — later identified as Rivera — who was unresponsive in the front passenger seat of the vehicle and appeared to have sustained multiple stab wounds.
“[Rivera] was covered in blood and had numerous stab wounds throughout her torso and head,” the affidavit states.
Emergency Medical Services personnel responded to the scene and immediately transported Rivera to a nearby hospital for medical treatment. Unfortunately, she succumbed to her wounds and was pronounced dead at approximately 3:47 p.m., the affidavit states.
The doctors who treated Rivera said that she “sustained upwards of twenty-five puncture wounds to her chest, head, face, and arms.
The parking lot of the HPD headquarters and the vehicle Rivera arrived in were established as crime scenes, with one officer writing that inside the car there was “a large amount of a red blood-like substance on the front passenger seat, dashboard, and floor.”
Police say they recovered a bloody knife from the vehicle’s center console.
In a subsequent interview with police detectives, Grajalez allegedly offered a shockingly forthright confession.
“Grajalez stated that he has been planning on murdering Jane Doe for several days,” according to the affidavit. Police say Grajalez further stated that he “waited for her to die before driving to the Hartford Police Department to report the incident.”
Asked why he would intentionally kill his wife, Grajalez allegedly said he had recently discovered that Rivera was having an affair with another man, Hartford CBS affiliate WFSB reported. He reportedly said that on Sunday afternoon he hid the knife in his pocket, bought his wife food at McDonald’s, then parked in a lot of a secluded local business located in the 200 block of Murphy Road where he repeatedly stabbed her.
After stabbing his wife to death, Grajalez reportedly told police that he took a photograph of her dead body and sent the image to the man with whom she had been having the affair, referring to him as her “new boyfriend.”
Grajalez appeared before a judge on Monday where his bond was set at $3 million. He is currently scheduled to appear in court again on May 15.
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