Man will stand trial in strangling of wife

As their mother was being strangled, three young children were in the next room alternately crying, playing rock, paper, scissors and watching the horror unfold through a small vent into the bedroom, they told Colorado Springs police.

Disturbing details emerged from a court hearing Wednesday and Thursday in the April 23 homicide of Pola Yesenia Valenzuela, 26, allegedly at the hands of her common-law husband, Anselmo Bonilla Barraza, 29.

Fourth Judicial District Judge Gregory Werner ruled Thursday prosecutors have presented enough evidence at the preliminary hearing to send Barraza to trial on first-degree murder charges.

The most damning evidence is that Barraza confessed to the crime to at least three people: a fellow inmate at the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center, Colorado Springs police detective Wayne Bichel and Valenzuela's children, prosecutors say.

The couple lived at a trailer at 4825 Astrozon Blvd., with Valenzuela's three children Jasmine, 9, Jesus, 7, and Noe, 6, and the couple's infant daughter.

Police found Valenzuela on her bed in the trailer with a blue string wrapped so tightly around her throat, "it caused the skin to be forced around the lace," according to an arrest affidavit.

CSPD Investigative Specialist Kelly Schifielbein interviewed Jesus the night of the homicide.

"My dad was fighting with mom. Then my dad killed my mom," Schifielbein said Jesus told her.

Officers found a dinner of hot dogs in water still on the stove. As the children heard their mother scream, they looked through a vent in the couple's bedroom door. There they saw Barraza kicking their mother, Jesus told Schifielbein.

At one point, Jasmine opened the door and looked in, only to be told by Barraza "this is none of your business," according to officer's testimony.

"She said ‘stop,' but he couldn't stop because he wanted her to be dead," Jesus told Schiffielbein.

When Barraza emerged from the bedroom, he told Jasmine to call 911, which she did. He also told the children to get their jackets and shoes on because he was going to be arrested, Schiffielbein testified.

Detective Derek Graham testified Barraza told cellmate Jesus Chavez the couple was having money problems, that he had returned home from work tired and that Valenzuela "was bitching at him." The couple was also fighting because Valenzuela was angry because she thought Barraza cared more about his mother and sister than her, Chavez told Graham.

Bichel testified Barraza told him "he just exploded" when she told him "go be with your mother" and threatened to break off the relationship. He then allegedly punched her twice in the face. When she covered her face with her hands, Barraza took the string out of his sweat shirt and wrapped it around her neck, Bichel said.

"He didn't understand why he did it. He just did it. He knew it was wrong," Bichel said.

Barraza, who is being held without bond, is scheduled to enter a plea Sept. 3. He could be sentenced to life in prison without parole if convicted of first-degree murder.