An active-duty U.S. Marine accused in the stabbing death of his wife is in custody and facing a second-degree murder charge.
Bryant Tejeda-Castillo, a Marine stationed in Kanehoe, Hawaii, has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of his estranged wife, 27-year-old Dana Alotaibi. He is accused of stabbing her to death on the side of a busy Honolulu highway.
Bail for Tejeda-Castillo, a Marine in the 3rd Littoral Combat Team, has been set at $1 million.
The couple had allegedly been arguing ahead of the attack, in which 29-year-old Tejeda-Castillo allegedly stabbed Alotaibi multiple times. Witnesses reportedly intervened and attempted to help Alotaibi, while Tejeda-Castillo fled into the woods.
One witness who said he was trained in CPR surmised quickly that Alotaibi’s condition was too dire. “You know, obviously when we’re doing CPR there’s no pulse,” the anonymous witness told KITV4. “They didn’t get a pulse the whole time, and it was just her face—she just looked past the point of no return, you know?”
Alotaibi was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Tejeda-Castillo allegedly cut himself when approached by police, who apprehended him; he remains hospitalized and in custody, People reports.
Alotaibi’s mother, Natalia Cespedes, told KITV that Alotaibi and Tejeda-Castillo had been married for almost three years. Per KITV, court records indicate that Tejeda-Castillo filed for a divorce last November, and that the uncontested divorce was granted this June.
Alotaibi allegedly documented some of the fraught marriage’s ups and downs on social media.
Marine Corps Base Hawaii told KITV that the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment and Marine Corps Base Hawaii “will continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement officials as the details surrounding this incident unfold.”
“The Marine Corps extends its deepest sympathies to the family and friends of those involved.”
After Alotaibi got pregnant, her mother Natalia Cespedes told KITV, all the preparations had been made for her to return to Virginia, where Cespedes still resides. There Alotaibi planned to “make her life, live with her kid.”
Now, the 27-year-old’s grief-stricken mother is working to return her daughter’s body to her home state. “Look,” she said, “my life is empty.”
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