Active-duty Marine charged in fatal stabbing of pregnant wife
An active-duty Marine has been charged with second-degree murder after allegedly stabbing his pregnant wife to death on an interstate highway in Hawaii.
Hawaii News Now reported Friday that police arrested Bryant Tejeda-Castillo in the fatal stabbing of 27-year-old Dana Alotaibi, a Virginia resident. His bail was set at $1 million.
Alotaibi’s mother, Natalia Cespedes, told the news outlet that Tejeda-Castillo was abusing her daughter, who repeatedly asked military officials for help. Cespedes said if Alotaibi received the help, she would still be alive.
Friends of Alotaibi told Hawaii News Now that Alotaibi and Tejeda-Castillo were married for three years but recently separated. They said she was 13 weeks pregnant with her current boyfriend.
Alotaibi posted a video on YouTube in January in which she said her husband had verbally and physically abused her and put his hands on her at least 30 times. She said each time she reported the abuse to his superiors in the military, they did not do anything.
She said Tejeda-Castillo had choked her to the point of losing consciousness “four or five times.”
Cespedes said Alotaibi was able to get a no-contact order against her husband, but she is upset that no one did more. She said she will travel from Virginia to Honolulu on Saturday to bring her daughter home.
“I feel like nobody wants to help, nobody wants to say nothing,” she said. “Probably if I go there, they will help.”
An arrest log from the Honolulu Police Department states that Tejeda-Castillo, 29, was arrested on Wednesday evening.
The Honolulu Police Department and Marines did not immediately return requests for comment from The Hill.