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A man arrested for stabbing his wife to death Friday in Salt Lake City was on probation for beating her and threatening to kill her last year in New Mexico.
Lisa Olivera, 32, was found by her roommates about 4:45 a.m. Friday after they heard her arguing with her husband, said Salt Lake City police Sgt. Robin Snyder. Though they were estranged, Daniel Olivera was staying with her on the 2300 South block of Green Street (640 East).
Daniel Olivera, 33, fled to a house on the other side of the city, where he changed his clothes to escape police, Snyder said. About five hours after the stabbing, someone near 1300 South and 1200 West reported that he was in the area. Officers found him on bicycle behind an LDS Church ward house. He was arrested without incident, Snyder said. The weapon was not recovered.
Daniel Olivera was convicted last year in New Mexico of misdemeanor battery against a household member and interfering with police, according an arrest warrant obtained by The Albuquerque Journal .
In March 2008, Olivera became angry with his wife because their phone did not work. They argued until he fell asleep. She left the apartment to ask a manager to fix it. When she returned, Olivera started to yell and demand to know where she had been.
The warrant says Olivera grabbed her by the hair, dragged her up the staircase and into the bedroom, stopping twice on the way up to kick her in the face. At the top, he punched her
According the arrest warrant: "Daniel then threw Lisa back to bed, telling her, 'If you ever leave, I'll kill you.'"
Following his conviction, Daniel Olivera absconded from probation almost immediately.
"Our officers had tried to locate him at his address he gave us and were unable to find him there," Rosie Saenz, a spokeswoman for the New Mexico Corrections Department, told The Journal . New Mexico authorities issued a warrant in May of this year. Salt Lake City police found him July 4 and booked him into the Salt Lake County jail. But New Mexico authorities reviewed Daniel Olivera's case and decided not to extradite him to Utah.
"It is a misdemeanor, and we frequently do not extradite people for misdemeanors," Bernalillo County, N.M., Sheriff Darren White told The Journal .
Daniel Olivera served a brief jail sentence for an outstanding warrant in Duchesne County, Utah, and was released on Aug. 18.
It's not clear what started Friday's argument. Two children were in the apartment, an infant and a 10-year-old, but police did not immediately know if they were the victim's children or if they witnessed the slaying.
A neighbor, Devon O'Neil, said he was awakened by the sounds of a fight about 4:30 a.m. He heard a man and woman yelling, and then the man making threats. About 10 minutes later, he heard screaming.
"It was so high-pitched, it didn't sound human to me," O'Neil said.
A few minutes later, he heard approaching police sirens.
Austin Gobelman, also a neighbor, said the couple moved in about two weeks ago, and he often saw Lisa Olivera with a boy who seemed to be her son. While he didn't talk to either Daniel or Lisa Olivera, Gobelman said Daniel appeared "cold" and "very distant."
"He just didn't seem like a very nice guy," he said.
