Background: A section of the 1200 block of Amity Street in Reading, Pennsylvania (Google Maps). Inset left: Samuel Lopez-Ordones (Berks County Sheriff's Office). Inset right: Daniela Allende (Auman's Inc. Funeral Home).
A Pennsylvania man accused of stabbing his ex-girlfriend in a fit of jealousy and then saying he did it "as a joke" will spend decades behind bars.
Samuel Lopez-Ordones, 34, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in the death of 27-year-old Daniela Allende, the Reading Eagle reported. He was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in state prison, the maximum possible sentence for that crime.
The defendant had originally been charged with first-degree murder, aggravated assault, and other charges, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show. However, those charges were reportedly dismissed with the negotiated plea deal.
According to court documents obtained by the local newspaper, Lopez-Ordones and Allende had been in a relationship for approximately 10 years when, in January 2025, she broke up with him and told him he had to move out. He did so, leaving behind the home on the 1200 block of Amity Street in Reading, where they had lived with their children and Allende's family.
But he would return.
In the week after his departure, Lopez-Ordones reportedly grew jealous, placing a GPS tracker on his ex-girlfriend's vehicle and arguing with her about how often he would get to see their children. On Jan. 29, 2025, knowing her location, he followed her to a restaurant parking lot where he is said to have seen her with another man.
When she returned home about 45 minutes later, Lopez-Ordones, again, followed, authorities said. He confronted her, saying, "Who was that guy?" prompting her to tell him to "just stop."
Lopez-Ordones told police he saw a knife near him, picked it up, and stabbed Allende "as a joke," not realizing until afterward that he had stabbed her deeply in her chest, per the Reading Eagle. He proceeded to walk up the stairs of the home and tell the victim's sister that he "did something bad and hurt your sister."
The sister went downstairs to find Allende lying in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor, authorities recounted. She called 911, and Allende's father and brother held the suspect down on the home's sofa until police arrived.
Lopez-Ordones has been locked up in the Berks County Correctional Facility since Jan. 30, 2025. Online court records do not yet reflect his plea and sentencing.
An obituary for Allende written in Spanish remembers her as "a person that made her own way in the world."
"She had a laid-back personality, always laughing, joking, and not worrying about the little things," it added. "For Daniela, life should be lived with joy and humor."
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