MILWAUKEE — A man charged with a fatal, domestic violence-related stabbing in West Milwaukee pled not guilty Friday morning.
According to a criminal complaint, 25-year-old Luis Barahona Lopez allegedly broke into a home near 52nd and National Avenue and stabbed 28-year-old Jose Valdivia and his 25-year-old girlfriend while they were sleeping.
The woman told police that Lopez was her ex-boyfriend, used to live at the residence, and that the pair share three children. She also said she did not know how he entered the home because he did not have a key.
Valdivia was stabbed 17 times, and was pronounced dead on scene. The woman was taken to the hospital with stab wounds to her leg and hand. She is expected to survive.
In an interview, Lopez told police that, despite a “restraining order” with the woman, the pair were “trying to work things out.” He said a friend told him she was out with another man that evening, and he “never thought she would be with another guy.”
When asked how he entered the house, he told police he found the keys in her truck.
He then told police he went inside and saw “a guy’s wallet” on the table. Valdivia was allegedly a friend of the woman’s brother.
Lopez said he saw the pair asleep in bed, at which point he “he started to get mad, blacked out, went to the kitchen, grabbed
two small knives from the knife holder and kicked in the door to the bedroom.”
Court records show he has a history of domestic violence.
Lopez is back in court in October. If convicted, he faces life in prison.
