Jealous rage led to killing

Jealousy and anger could mean life in prison for an Omaha man who in September admitted killing his wife.

Juan A. Melgoza-Ramirez, 35, faces a first-degree murder charge in Douglas County District Court. Douglas County Judge Susan Bazis found probable cause for the felony charge Monday morning and sent the case to District Court.

Yolanda Escalona-Trejo’s body was found in a basement at 4335 Miami St. on Sept. 9, her birthday. Melgoza-Ramirez was arrested Sept. 11 by Oklahoma City police while on a Greyhound bus headed for Juarez, Mexico.

Until Escalona-Trejo’s death, there had been no reported cases of domestic violence involving Melgoza-Ramirez and Escalona-Trejo, but Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine has said people close to the couple have discussed previous acts.

An arrest warrant lays out Escalona-Trejo’s death this way:

Escalona-Trejo, a 32-year-old mother of four, told her husband Sept. 7 that she was going to marry her boyfriend and bring the children she and her husband shared to the U.S., so she and her boyfriend could raise them here. The next day, Melgoza-Ramirez told detectives, he saw his wife driving in a truck with her boyfriend and became very angry.

About 3:30 a.m. Sept. 9, Melgoza-Ramirez, who lived with his wife in the basement of the Miami Street house, tried caressing her while she lay in bed.

Escalona-Trejo got mad and said she had to go to work. Melgoza-Ramirez said he didn’t believe her and accused her of going to meet her boyfriend. The two fought, and she bit his thumb.

Melgoza-Ramirez said he then began choking Escalona-Trejo with his other hand until the two fell to the floor. He said he could see his wife having trouble breathing so he left the house and walked around the neighborhood, concerned about what he had done.

When he returned home, he went to the bedroom and found her dead.

Melgoza-Ramirez said he wrapped his wife’s body in a comforter because “he couldn’t stand seeing her face like that.” He stuffed her under the bed, then poured soap on a towel and placed it under the door to mask the smell of the body.

He wrote a note saying that what happened was all the boyfriend’s fault.

Contact the writer:

444-1336, leia.mendoza@owh.com