Family and friends held onto each other as they gathered Monday night to mourn the loss of a mother who was found murdered last week in Hallandale Beach.
Police say 41-year-old Delfina Perez Chilel, who was five months pregnant, was killed Tuesday by her children’s father, 38-year-old Victor Chavez Sr.
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Investigators say Chavez confessed to killing her.
At a news conference Tuesday, Hallandale Beach Police Sgt. Nini McArdle called it a "heartbreaking tragedy."
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"We ask the community to support and keep this family in your thoughts during this incredibly difficult time," McArdle said. "This horrific and isolated crime which occurred in the family-oriented community of Hallandale Beach was the result of domestic violence."
Police released body-worn camera video showing officers arriving at the couple’s home on Southwest 7th Avenue in Hallandale Beach that night for a welfare check.
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According to the arrest report, Chilel was found dead inside the bathroom in a pool of blood. She had at least 16 cuts and stab wounds throughout her body, the report said.
Police say her unborn child died as well.
Police found blood all over the bathroom and blood in the kitchen that they believe Chavez tried to clean up.
The report states that Chavez was found inside the bedroom in a deep and heavy sleep. Investigators say he tried to take his own life by taking several prescription pills. They also found goodbye notes throughout the house: in the kitchen, on his children's jewelry box, and another written on a dry-erase board.
Chavez appeared in bond court Sunday and was charged with second-degree murder. He allegedly confessed to police and thought Chilel was trying to kill him.
Their children’s daycare called officers after the parents didn’t pick them up, police said.
Court documents show Chavez had been arrested before for domestic violence charges, but each case was dismissed due to the victims not pressing charges or not showing up in court.
He was arrested three times between 2014 and 2017 for battery and aggravated battery.
According to a new arrest warrant, the victim’s sister told police Chavez had schizophrenia and had stopped taking his medication sometime this year. Chavez has also tried to kill himself in the past, and he thought the government put something in his medicine that would kill him.
The victim told her sister that Chavez threatened to kill himself and her multiple times, and she was afraid of him. She hid all the knives in the house fearing he would use them on her, the warrant said.
McArdle said the couple's children, a 9-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl, were safe and being cared for by relatives.
Chilel’s family created a GoFundMe page to help raise money to send her body to Guatemala.
