Inset: Juan Diego Ramos Lopez (Ada County Sheriff's Office). Background: The sub-development where Lopez stabbed his wife in Meridian, Idaho (Google Maps).
An Idaho man will spend significant time behind bars for stabbing his estranged wife 26 times in front of their children last fall.
In July, Juan Diego Ramos Lopez, 47, pleaded guilty to one count of domestic battery or assault in the presence of a child, with a sentencing enhancement for infliction of great bodily injury, according to Ada County court records reviewed by Law&Crime.
On Thursday, the defendant was sentenced to 30 years in prison by 4th Judicial District Judge Nancy Baskin. He must serve at least 15 years of his sentence before he is eligible for parole, according to a press release issued by the Ada County Prosecutors' Office.
The underlying incident occurred in November 2025 at a residence on West Flower Garden Street in Meridian — a large and fast-growing city on the western edge of the Boise metro area.
On the day in question, police arrived to find the victim suffering from multiple stab wounds, according to a contemporaneous news report by Boise-based NBC affiliate KTVB. She was rushed to a nearby hospital in "serious but stable condition," police said at the time.
"Lopez stabbed his wife 26 times in the head, face, neck, arm, and chest, telling her he was going to kill her," the prosecutor's office noted. "Four of the couple's children were home at the time. Their 16-year-old child struck Lopez to stop the attack and called 911."
The defendant was not at the scene by the time police arrived and fled to Oregon, where he later turned himself in.
"Oregon State Police reported Lopez still had blood on his hands and was in possession of the knife he'd used in the attack," the press release goes on. "He admitted to officers that he'd stabbed his wife and that she might be dead."
Weeks later, the defendant was formally charged with several additional counts of witness intimidation, court records show.
During a hearing in March of this year, Lopez pleaded not guilty to all of the counts against him. As a result of the ensuing plea agreement, the witness intimidation counts were dismissed.
During the sentencing hearing, the judge had harsh words for the defendant — who had a long history of domestic violence and was on supervised probation at the time of the latest spate of violence.
"I don't know that there could be a more serious offense, unless your victim had died," Baskin told Lopez. "You don't get to stab the woman you love 26 times in the presence of your children. You continue to present a risk to those you claim to care for…you are a clear and present danger."
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