Manhunt for groom extends to Texas
Police in South suburban Burbank have asked authorities in Texas to join the hunt for a man accused of stabbing his new wife to death and leaving her body in her bathtub, still clad in the silver sequined cocktail dress she wore to celebrate their wedding.
Police and the FBI were poring over more than 200 tips as they searched for Arnoldo Jimenez, who married Estrella Carrera on Friday at Chicago City Hall and killed her just hours later, authorities allege. Police said Jimenez may have ties to Texas.
“We are following every lead no matter where it takes us,” said Capt. Joseph Ford of the Burbank Police Department, outside Chicago. “We will not stop looking, and this will not go away.”
The sheriff in Hidalgo County, Texas, which is on the Mexican border, said a “be on the lookout” advisory indicates Jimenez may he headed for Mexico. There was no more specific information and authorities would not confirm whether Jimenez had left the country.
Federal border officials from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection also say they have the advisory and Jimenez’ photo.
Authorities began looking for Jimenez soon after Carrera’s family reported that she failed to pick up her two children Saturday as she had arranged. The family had been unable to reach Carrera or Jimenez, so they asked police to check on her well-being at her apartment in Burbank.
Police found Carrera’s body Sunday afternoon in the bathtub, still clothed in the dress she also may have worn at her wedding ceremony.
Jimenez was charged with first-degree murder, leaving the bride’s family searching for answers as to what befell the 26-year-old mother of two in the hours after she hastily married her on-and-off boyfriend.
Most of Carrera’s family disapproved of her relationship with Jimenez, even though he was the father of her 2-year-old son.
Jazmin Carrera said she doesn’t understand why her sister married the 30-year-old Jimenez in what seemed like a rushed ceremony — or why she married him at all.
“That’s the question everyone’s asking themselves,” Jazmin Carrera said.
She received a text message from her sister Friday, inviting her to join them and their friends at a Mexican restaurant and a nightclub to celebrate the nuptials. She didn’t join the festivities.
“It was just all of a sudden,” Jazmin Carrera said. “She didn’t give us enough notice.”
Police are pleading with Jimenez to turn himself in “for the sake of his family and especially his children,” Ford said. “I am sure they are very concerned for his well-being.”
Ford said Jimenez was previously arrested for domestic violence in another city in a case that did not involve Carrera. Police don’t know what Jimenez does for a living, although he was last known to be driving a black 2006 Maserati, an expensive car.
“We do not believe Jimenez is a danger to others, but we certainly do not know his mind frame at the present time,” Ford told the AP.
Since the killing likely took place mere hours after the couple went to Carrera’s apartment, the suspect had a day to flee the metropolitan area or even the state, Ford said.
The victim’s sister said she is taking things “a day at a time.”
“The emotions are just on and off,” Jazmin Carrera said. “It’s unbelievable one minute, and then it hits you and becomes real.”