Prosecutor: Family heard murder victim's screams, helpless to save her
Family members heard Francisca Quintero-Montoya screaming for her life Sunday behind a locked restroom door at Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village but were helpless to save her, prosecutors said Monday during a bond hearing for Quintero-Montoya's estranged husband, Javier Bahena-Arellano, who's now charged with her murder.
Bahena-Arellano, 43, was ordered held without bail on charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping and felony murder in the death of Quintero-Montoya, 42, of Burlington, Wisconsin.
If convicted of killing Quintero-Montoya, his wife of more than 20 years, Bahena-Arellano could face life in prison.
Prosecutors Monday detailed a history of violence in the marriage, including convictions for Bahena-Arellano in both 1998 and 1999 in Kane County. In the latter case, Bahena-Arellano was convicted of punching Quintero-Montoya in the shoulder, prosecutors said. He was sentenced to 18 months of probation and 30 days in jail. Bahena-Arellano was deported after the 1999 conviction, prosecutors said, but returned to the U.S. in 2010.
Quintero-Montoya, Bahena-Arellano and other family members were in the cardiac care unit at Alexian Brothers visiting Quintero-Montoya's brother, who died about 9:30 a.m. Sunday after suffering a heart attack, said Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Maria McCarthy.
Bahena-Arellano, who believed Quintero-Montoya was cheating on him, took her phone and went to his truck, where he read text messages that upset him, McCarthy said.
He returned to the hospital with a screwdriver he retrieved from the truck and gave his car keys to a brother-in-law, asking him to return the vehicle to his workplace, McCarthy said.
The brother-in-law asked Bahena-Arellano if he was going back to work, to which Bahena-Arellano responded that he was finished and everything has its limits, McCarthy said.
Bahena-Arellano then confronted Quintero-Montoya about the text messages, followed her into a unisex restroom adjacent to a hospital waiting room and locked the door, McCarthy said.
Hearing Quintero-Montoya scream, family members tried to unlock the door but were unsuccessful. They overheard Bahena-Arellano say, “I told you what I was going to do to you.” To which they said Quintero-Montoya cried, “Don't do this, I want to see my parents” and “Think of the children,” McCarthy said.
Upon forcing the door open, family members found the victim lying on the floor, her chest covered in blood, while Bahena-Arellano stood above her, a screwdriver clenched in his fist, McCarthy said.
When Quintero-Montoya's sister asked why he did it, Bahena-Arellano picked up the victim's phone, shook it and said, “This is your motive why,” McCarthy said.
Quintero-Montoya suffered a stab wound to her chest, which punctured her aorta, and two stab wounds to her back. She was rushed to the hospital's emergency room, where efforts to save her life failed. She was pronounced dead at 1:10 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
Police said when officers arrived at the hospital at 11:36 a.m., Bahena-Arellano already had been apprehended by hospital security.
He was still holding the screwdriver when hospital security confronted him, prosecutors said. When a guard told him to drop it, Bahena-Arellano thrust the screwdriver into the wall, according to prosecutors.
Unless a court later sets bond for Bahena-Arellano, he will remain in custody at the Cook County jail until his case is resolved. He next appears in court on April 13.
Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson said security incidents at Alexian Brothers are routinely handled by the hospital's security officers without outside assistance from the village police department.
“They get tens of thousands of visitors a year there, and sometimes things happen. But it's a rare occurrence,” Johnson said. “It's the first time I'm aware of a murder inside the hospital.”
The last murder in Elk Grove Village was more than four years ago. Kenneth Johnson, a 47-year-old unemployed Elk Grove Village plumber and carpenter, shot and killed his wife and stepson before turning a rifle on himself in January 2011.