Thread: NJ: Husband's bail stays at $1M in drowning attempt;

Husband's bail stays at $1M in drowning attempt; wife's condition 'grave'

By Peggy Wright • Daily Record • May 13, 2008

Bail was kept at $1 million this afternoon for an illegal alien from Ecuador who is charged with trying to kill his wife Friday — in front of their 8-year-old daughter — by holding her down in bathwater at their Morristown home.

Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Leslie Wade told Superior Court Judge Salem Vincent Ahto that the victim, 26-year-old Eliana Torres, is unconscious, in “grave conditionâ€

restaurant in Florham Park.

Thanks for aiding an illegal alien and his family.

Use the E-Verify program and this wouldn't have happened!

Dixie

May 14, 2008


Cops: Morristown woman 'without much hope' of survival from murder attempt

Bail stays at $1M for husband accused of trying to drown his wife

By Peggy Wright
Daily Record

Bail was maintained Tuesday at $1 million for an undocumented immigrant from Ecuador who is charged with trying to kill his wife -- in front of their 8-year-old daughter -- by holding her under water in the bathtub at their Morristown home.

Looking dazed and staring around the courtroom as he was led in by sheriff's officers, defendant Kleber Cordova, 29, appeared for a brief bail hearing before Superior Court Judge Salem Vincent Ahto. The judge kept bail at the $1 million he originally set on the charges of attempted murder and aggravated assault.

Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Leslie Wade said the victim, 26-year-old Eliana Torres, remains in the critical care unit of Morristown Memorial Hospital, where she was taken Friday morning. She is unconscious, "in grave condition, and with little brain activity," Wade said.

He said the victim is "without much hope of survival."

"If she does die, we will charge murder," Wade said.

A chef for Tassert's Restaurant in Florham Park, Cordova is in this country illegally from Ecuador. Wade said the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has filed a detainer against him, and that authorities believe he sometimes uses another last name. Court records show the last name to be Villavicencio.

Cordova summoned Morristown police to his home at 85 Western Ave. with a 911 call at 7:19 a.m. Friday that reported his wife was unresponsive in the bathtub. The victim was naked, fully submerged in the tub, with her head face-up and positioned under the faucet. She had no pulse. Paramedics revived a pulse by performing CPR and intubating the victim before she was transported to Morristown Memorial Hospital, Wade said.

According to an arrest affidavit, Cordova originally told police he found his wife unconscious in the bathtub. When the 8-year-old daughter was interviewed, however, she told police she saw her mother fighting back in the bathtub and her father -- who ordered her out of the room -- struggling to hold the woman down in the water, the affidavit said.

Police later found soaking wet clothing belonging to the mother in a garbage bag in the rear of her 1999 Honda Odyssey minivan. Cordova is believed to have stripped his wife of the clothes and hid them in a bag to make it appear that she accidentally drowned, the affidavit said.

Cordova allegedly confessed to police that he tried to drown Torres after they argued about his belief she was seeing another man. He admitted holding her under water for about three minutes and "in his words, knew she was going to die," Wade told the judge.

Cordova, who said virtually nothing at the hearing, was assisted by a Spanish interpreter and represented by Deputy Assistant Public Defender John Paul Velez. Velez told the judge he would not challenge the $1 million bail at this point. The case is expected to be referred to a county grand jury for possible indictment.

Besides the 8-year-old daughter, the couple has an infant child. The state Division of Youth and Family Services took emergency custody of the children, Wade said.

www.dailyrecord.com

...they need to reveal the name of the restaurant that employed this monster and go after the owners as well for hiring this piece of work.

...this guy was a "chef" at Tassert's restaurant in Florham Park, NJ.

The comments on this article are being dominated by an IA-hugging poster who has no facts in her posts. The posts need to be countered.



May 14, 2008

Cops: Morristown woman 'without much hope' of survival from murder attempt

Bail stays at $1M for husband accused of trying to drown his wife

By Peggy Wright
Daily Record

Bail was maintained Tuesday at $1 million for an undocumented immigrant from Ecuador who is charged with trying to kill his wife -- in front of their 8-year-old daughter -- by holding her under water in the bathtub at their Morristown home.

Looking dazed and staring around the courtroom as he was led in by sheriff's officers, defendant Kleber Cordova, 29, appeared for a brief bail hearing before Superior Court Judge Salem Vincent Ahto. The judge kept bail at the $1 million he originally set on the charges of attempted murder and aggravated assault.

Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Leslie Wade said the victim, 26-year-old Eliana Torres, remains in the critical care unit of Morristown Memorial Hospital, where she was taken Friday morning. She is unconscious, "in grave condition, and with little brain activity," Wade said.

He said the victim is "without much hope of survival."

"If she does die, we will charge murder," Wade said.

A chef for Tassert's Restaurant in Florham Park, Cordova is in this country illegally from Ecuador. Wade said the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has filed a detainer against him, and that authorities believe he sometimes uses another last name. Court records show the last name to be Villavicencio.

Cordova summoned Morristown police to his home at 85 Western Ave. with a 911 call at 7:19 a.m. Friday that reported his wife was unresponsive in the bathtub. The victim was naked, fully submerged in the tub, with her head face-up and positioned under the faucet. She had no pulse. Paramedics revived a pulse by performing CPR and intubating the victim before she was transported to Morristown Memorial Hospital, Wade said.

According to an arrest affidavit, Cordova originally told police he found his wife unconscious in the bathtub. When the 8-year-old daughter was interviewed, however, she told police she saw her mother fighting back in the bathtub and her father -- who ordered her out of the room -- struggling to hold the woman down in the water, the affidavit said.

Police later found soaking wet clothing belonging to the mother in a garbage bag in the rear of her 1999 Honda Odyssey minivan. Cordova is believed to have stripped his wife of the clothes and hid them in a bag to make it appear that she accidentally drowned, the affidavit said.

Cordova allegedly confessed to police that he tried to drown Torres after they argued about his belief she was seeing another man. He admitted holding her under water for about three minutes and "in his words, knew she was going to die," Wade told the judge.

Cordova, who said virtually nothing at the hearing, was assisted by a Spanish interpreter and represented by Deputy Assistant Public Defender John Paul Velez. Velez told the judge he would not challenge the $1 million bail at this point. The case is expected to be referred to a county grand jury for possible indictment.

Besides the 8-year-old daughter, the couple has an infant child. The state Division of Youth and Family Services took emergency custody of the children, Wade said.

Tassert's Restaurant
176 Columbia Turnpike
Florham Park,NJ 07932
Tel: 973-822-3712
Fax: 973-822-8998

May 16, 2008


Morristown man faces murder charge in bathtub attack on his wife

By PEGGY WRIGHT
Gannett News Service

A Morristown woman who police say was held underwater by her husband a week ago has been declared dead. Her spouse will appear before a judge today for arraignment on an upgraded charge of murder.

Eliana Torres, 26, was declared brain dead at 5:06 p.m. Wednesday at Morristown Memorial Hospital but she remained on life support as of Thursday evening in order to preserve her organs for donation, authorities said.

If convicted of murder, her husband faces a sentence of life in prison, with 30 years of parole ineligibility.

Morris County Prosecutor Robert A. Bianchi said at a press conference Thursday the original attempted murder charge was upgraded to murder against Torres' husband, Kleber Cordova, 29. Cordova, an undocumented immigrant from Ecuador, worked as a chef for Tassert's Restaurant in Florham Park and occasionally as a cleaner for Pazzo Pazzo in Morristown.

The victim, the mother of two, who also is from Ecuador and worked as a housekeeper for families, has relatives in the area, including an aunt in Morristown.

Arraignment today

Cordova is expected to be brought today before Superior Court Judge Salem Vincent Ahto in Morristown to formally be advised of the new charge. He first was charged on Mother's Day, and has been held on $1 million bail in the Morris County jail in a medical/mental health unit, where all defendants who are charged with major crimes initially are held.

Cordova called 911 at 7:19 a.m. on May 9 to report that his wife was unresponsive and possibly dead in the bathtub of their rented home at 85 Western Ave. in Morristown. Officers found the mother naked, submerged in the tub face-up, with her head positioned under the faucet. They immediately removed her and began CPR, and paramedics revived a pulse.

The husband had not drained the tub or removed his wife before calling police,
investigators said.

Cordova initially told police he got home early on May 9 and heard water running in the bathroom. After some 20 minutes he entered the bathroom and found his wife partially submerged in the tub with water running over her face from the faucet, according to an affidavit by Prosecutor's Office Detective Robert McNally.

Crime scenario

The husband admitted by Saturday evening that he held his wife's head underwater for about three minutes until she stopped struggling, the affidavit said. He contended that his wife was seeing another man, and that during an argument on May 9, they pushed each other and wound up struggling in the bathtub, the affidavit said.

Bianchi said that, upon arriving at the home in response to the 911 call, Morristown
police officers "perceptively knew by gut instinct that something was afoul."

Detectives interviewed the couple's 8-year-old daughter, who said she heard water
running and saw her father over her mother, who was in the tub wearing black pants and socks. The child told police her mother was moving her arms as though scratching at her father's face and that the father was trying to control the mother's arms. Cordova ordered the girl to leave the bathroom and she obeyed, the affidavit said.

Town Officer Michael Andrisano, the first responding officer, saw that the victim was
naked. "Thus, his observations conflict with the recollection of (the child)," the
affidavit said, supporting police allegations against Cordova.

A Honda Odyssey van used by the victim was searched and found to contain a black plastic garbage bag with wet towels and clothing, including black pants and socks.

The state Division of Youth and Family Services took custody of the two children, the
8-year-old and an infant.

Police praised

Both Bianchi and town Police Chief Peter Demnitz praised officers for all the steps they took in the case, with Demnitz saying police meticulously handled the incident as though it were the type that occurred every day.

"I applaud the talent and skill of the legal and investigative team of the major crimes
unit of the Morris County Prosecutor's Office and Sheriff's Office for developing the
evidence needed to secure this arrest and charge," Bianchi said.

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