EVERETT — Oscar Garcia-Pacheco on Thursday quietly admitted that he murdered his wife, stabbing her 19 times as she tried to hand him a court document that ordered him to stay away from her.
Garcia-Pacheco, shackled and handcuffed, kept his head bowed as a Spanish interpreter told a Snohomish County Superior Court judge that the Monroe man, 33, was pleading guilty to first-degree murder.
Garcia-Pacheco faces up to 28 years in prison when he is sentenced in mid-September. Lawyers plan to recommend a 22-year sentence as part of the plea agreement.
Garcia-Pacheco brutally attacked his wife May 24, 2013, moments after she retrieved a protection order out of her car near the couple’s business in downtown Monroe.
Standing on the sidewalk, Jacoba Ramirez-Rodriguez was stabbed multiple times in the chest and abdomen with an eight-inch knife. Her husband said he had bought a knife set that day with the intention of killing his wife and then committing suicide.
Ramirez-Rodriguez, 34, suffered an eviscerated bowel, perforated spleen and cuts to her colon and diaphragm. The injuries caused a dramatic drop in her blood pressure, which likely caused the stroke that left her brain dead two days later. Doctors removed the woman from life support a week later. She died June 2.
Ramirez-Rodriguez sought a protection order against her husband days before she was stabbed. In her statement to the court, she explained that the couple was in the process of divorcing. They had dated for about eight years before marrying in 2007. They had lived in Monroe for more than a decade. Ramirez-Rodriguez wrote that her husband had assaulted her in the past and had sometimes left her with bruises and black eyes. She didn’t report the abuse because she “always thought he would change.”
Then on May 20, 2013, she called police. Her husband came to their business and caused a disturbance. He was throwing items around and arguing with other relatives. No one was arrested that night.
The next day she asked a judge to prohibit her husband from coming to their home or business. She wrote about his escalating anger.
The paperwork indicated that Ramirez-Rodriguez planned to make private arrangements to serve her husband with the order instead of asking police.
Garcia-Pacheco showed up at the family business and the couple argued for a short time. Ramirez-Rodriguez walked to her car to get the court order. Her husband followed her to the car and then plunged the knife into her stomach as the woman stood on the sidewalk.
Witnesses reported seeing the attack and hearing Ramirez-Rodriguez scream. Garcia-Pacheco eventually ran off.
Police officers cornered him in an alley. There, he reportedly threatened to kill himself and the responding officers. He was subdued with shocks from an electronic stun gun before his arrest.
In Washington, roughly half of all domestic-violence homicides occur when the victim is trying to leave the relationship.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley
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