Garcia-Pacheco pleads guilty to 1st degree murder of wife in knife attack

A man who stabbed his wife to death on a busy Monroe street corner last summer has pleaded guilty in court to first degree murder.

Oscar Garcia-Pacheco, 33, through an interpreter, admitted Thursday in Snohomish County Superior Court that he was guilty of stabbing his wife at the corner of Lewis and Main early in the evening of May 24, 2013 as she was attempting to serve him with a protection order.

He faces as many as 28 years in prison; lawyers are recommending 22 years in exchange for his guilty plea.

Garcia-Pacheco, who with his wife, Jacoba Ramirez-Rodriguez, owned a nutrition business on Lewis Street, had become jealous and accusatory toward his wife, leading her to seek protection from him.

He had been violent to her before during their 14-year relationship, she told the court when seeking a protection order. They had been dating eight years prior to their 2007 marriage, and Garcia-Pacheco had been striking her since the year 2000, when he hit her repeatedly with a belt, blacked her eye and locked her out of her home overnight.

She stayed because she had hoped he would change, she told the court.

Eventually, however, she gave up that hope. Four days before her death, she went to police, reporting that Garcia-Pacheco had been belligerent with her and her relatives and and created a disturbance at their business. She asked that he be prevented from coming to their home or business.

She also stated her intention to serve the paperwork on him herself, something police recommend against.

The earlier on the day of May 24, Garcia-Pacheco bought an eight-inch kitchen knife, according to his confession, then later drove to the store, planning to kill his wife and then himself. When he got there, they quarreled briefly, then she went out to her car to retrieve the paperwork. He followed her, attacking her and stabbing her 19 times.

Passers-by tried to save her life, and she made it to the hospital alive and in critical condition, but later succumbed to her wounds. She died June 2 after spending a week on life-support following a stroke, likely the result of her injuries, that left her brain-dead. She was 34.

Garcia-Pacheco fled into an alley, holding the knife to his own throat as he did, but police captured him with the use of stun guns.

He sustained fairly serious injuries during the capture.

In the wake of the murder of Jacoba Ramirez-Rodriguez, community-wide concern led to a vigil and a call for more Spanish-language, culturally relevant resources, information and outreach on the topic of domestic violence.