Thursday, June 28, 2012

Tolleson, AZ: Police: Tolleson man accused of beating wife to death with toilet lid

A Tolleson man was arrested Saturday after reportedly beating his estranged wife to death with the lid of a toilet tank, officials said.

Edgardo Luis Claudio-Marrero, 48, was arrested after investigators arrived to his home in the 8700 block of West Washington Street and found the body of his wife, Sreymom Claudio, in the upstairs bathtub, police said.

Claudio-Marrero has been formally charged with second-degree murder, according to court documents.

According to documents, Sreymom Claudio heard that her husband had pawned some of her jewelry without her permission. She reportedly dropped off a friend at a restaurant to keep him away from her husband then drove to her husband’s house to confront him, documents said.

The friend waited to hear from Claudio for three hours before taking a taxi to Claudio-Marrero’s home. When the friend arrived, he waited in the taxi for 45 minutes to see if anyone would come out.

The friend told police Claudio-Marrero came out of the house and went to the passenger side of his van to search for something. Claudio-Marrero then went back into the house which prompted the friend to call police.

Police arrived and knocked at the door for 15 minutes before Claudio-Marrero came out through the garage. Officers saw that his hands had fresh cuts and were bleeding, according to the police report.

Officers said Claudio-Marrero admitted to pawning his wife’s jewelry and that he got into an argument with her when she arrived. He reportedly pushed and punched Claudio and then hit her with the lid from a toilet tank until it broke, police said.

Claudio-Marrero told police that his wife of five years moved in with his sister and that they were in the process of getting a divorce. He told police during the argument he got angry with his wife over photos he saw of her and another man on Facebook and “snapped.”

Claudio-Marrero’s bond was set for $750,000. He is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing on July 5.

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