Inset: Hector Luvianos-Barrera (Kane County Sheriff's Office). Background: The street where Luvianos-Barrera lived with and allegedly killed his wife in Batavia, Ill. (Google Maps).
An Illinois man is behind bars for brutally slaughtering his wife with a knife and a hammer, cops in the Land of Lincoln say.
Hector Luvianos-Barrera, 37, stands accused of two counts of murder in the first degree, according to the Batavia Police Department.
The underlying incident occurred during the early morning hours on Tuesday at an apartment on Church Street in Batavia – a small town located on the western edge of the Chicagoland metro area.
The 911 call came in around 4:30 a.m. and was made by the defendant himself, police said. Officers found Luvianos-Barrera outside of the residence where he was taken into custody without incident.
Inside, the man's wife was found with "significant, life-threatening injuries," police said in a press release. The victim later died at the scene of the crime as paramedics attempted lifesaving measures.
The fatal violence was described as "domestic-related," according to the police department. The Kane County Coroner's Office later identified the victim as Noemi Parada Narvaez, 43.
While initial details about the carnage were scarce, the Kane County State's Attorney's Office relayed harrowing and gruesome accusations during a hearing on Christmas Eve, according to a courtroom report by The Daily Herald, a suburban area newspaper.
During the attack, Luvianos-Barrera stabbed his wife 20 to 30 times in her head and an additional 20 to 25 in her back, neck and chest, Assistant State's Attorney Tyler Cox told the judge.
The defendant also repeatedly hit the woman's body and head with a hammer, the prosecutor said. By the end of the onslaught, the woman was covered in lacerations and had a broken skull, Cox added.
The defendant, for his part, allegedly told police he was defending himself on the night in question. The prosecutor ridiculed that account and described the incident as "a brutal and violent attack that went well beyond any inkling that it was self-defense."
Luvianos-Barrera said the night began with the couple drinking alcohol while watching a movie but eventually deteriorated when his wife accused him of infidelity and began throwing objects at him, Cox told 16th Judicial Circuit Judge John Barsanti.
The defendant allegedly went on to tell law enforcement he hugged his wife in a bid to defuse the tense situation but came to find out she was holding a knife behind her back, the prosecutor added.
At that point, Luvianos-Barrera allegedly said he pried the knife away from Narvaez and pushed her down – but the woman would not relent. Finally, the defendant said, he admittedly began stabbing her and bashing her with the hammer repeatedly, Cox told the court.
"I defended myself and exceeded myself and killed her," he allegedly said.
The woman was found lying face down on the floor with a blanket covering her body, the prosecutor told the judge.
Luvianos-Barrera is currently detained in the Kane County Jail without bond. He is slated to next appear in court on Jan. 2.
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