Man Charged With Killing Wife In Hospital Allegedly Accused Her Of Cheating
CHICAGO (STMW) -- A man fatally stabbed his estranged wife with a screwdriver at a northwest suburban hospital Sunday over accusations of infidelity, prosecutors said Monday.
Javier Bahena, 43, was charged with one count of first-degree murder. He allegedly killed his 42-year-old wife, Francisca Quintero, about 11:30 a.m. Sunday, just hours after her brother died of a heart attack at Alexian Brothers Medical Center on Sunday, authorities said.
Bahena was held without bail at a hearing Monday before Judge Joseph Michael Cataldo at the Rolling Meadows courthouse, said Stephen Campbell, a spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office.
Bahena, Quintero and several family members had gathered in the hospital's Cardiac Care Unit because Quintero's brother died of a heart attack about 9 a.m. Sunday, prosecutors said. They were awaiting the arrival of Quintero's parents from Mexico.
The couple had been married for more than 20 years, but they had been separated for the past year, prosecutors said.
At some point, Bahena took Quintero's cellphone from the waiting room to his truck, where he read text messages that upset him, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Bahena grabbed a screwdriver from his truck and walked back into the hospital. He gave his keys to his brother-in-law, saying he was "done and finished and everything has its limits."
He then followed Quintero into a bathroom and locked the door from the inside, prosecutors claim. Relatives heard a commotion but could not open the door.
Relatives heard him say, "I told you what I was going to do to you," and heard Quintero reply, "Don't do this, I want to see my parents," and "Think of the children."
They heard screaming and forced open the door to find Quintero lying on the floor with her chest covered in blood, prosecutors said. Bahena allegedly was standing with the screwdriver clenched in his fist.
Bahena then picked up the woman's phone from the sink, shook it and told the relatives, "This is your motive," prosecutors said.
Family members carried Quintero out of the bathroom, and several doctors came to attend to her, but she was pronounced dead at the hospital about 1:10 p.m. authorities said.
Quintero, of Burlington, Wisconsin, died of multiple stab wounds, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. An autopsy Monday ruled her death a homicide.
Bahena was arrested at the hospital. After the alleged stabbing, he told a security guard, "She cheated on me," and made other similar accusations, prosecutors said. When a security guard ordered Bahena to drop the screwdriver, he stabbed it into a wall.
No one else was hurt and the hospital continued normal operations, Elk Grove Village Police said.
Bahena, whose home address was not available Monday, will next appear in court April 13 for a preliminary hearing, Campbell said.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2015. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)