A worship leader was found dead, apparently stabbed by her husband inside their home on Sunday after the couple allegedly got into a heated argument at church. However, the suspect told police he couldn't remember murdering his wife.
The body of 33-year-old Yadira Gomez was found only after her three children, all aged under 10, told their teachers at school the following day that their father, Vicente Roldan-Marron, 46, had killed their mother, according to The Christian Post.
When the police went to the family's home after being alerted by the school teachers, they saw Gomez lying in a pool of blood with multiple stab wounds and a bloody knife lying beside her body.
Roldan-Marron from Missouri was subsequently arrested and charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action.
Court documents revealed that the couple's eldest child, a 9-year-old boy, told investigators that his parents were arguing after church and started to fight. He even heard his father scream, "Why did I do that, and it was really dumb."
When he went upstairs to check what happened, his mother was already lying on the bedroom floor with blood all over her.
After being arrested by the police, Roldan-Marron said he blacked out after drinking and taking pills so he could not remember what happened. He added that he must have killed his wife, but he has no recollection of ever committing the attack.
The two were suffering from marriage problems, and they were receiving marriage counselling at Kayros Church of the Nazarene.
Meanwhile, Pastor Douglas Galvan from the church shared with Fox4KC some of the best memories he had of Gomez. He said they were all mesmerised by her singing talent.
"One day I was in a back office and heard someone sing and I said to myself, who is singing?" Galvan recalled. "I thought it was audio track, then I thought, 'wow, what a voice she has.' That is how she became more and more involved with the church. She wanted to change her life."
He called her death a tragedy, and said the whole church is committed to helping her children out the best way they can. "We can't buy them a home because we don't have enough, but they are never going to go hungry, never go cold. We are going to be there as a church," Galvan said.
