Friday, May 18, 2012

Cell phone of slain bride's husband tracked to Texas

Burbank Police Department via AP

This undated photo, released May 15, 2012, by the Burbank Police department, shows Arnoldo Jimenez.

By NBCChicago.com

The FBI has tracked the cell phone of a Burbank, Ill., man suspected of killing his new bride to the Texas-Mexico border.

A federal warrant was issued Thursday for the arrest of 30-year-old Arnoldo Jimenez.

Jimenez was born in Texas and owns property in Pharr, Texas, according to a federal criminal complaint and attached affidavit. He has relatives in North Carolina, and his parents live in Mexico.


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Estrella Carrera was still in her wedding dress when she was found stabbed to death in the bathtub of her apartment on Sunday, two days after the pair were married in a City Hall ceremony, officials said. Jimenez disappeared.

Law enforcement said they tracked his cell phone from the Chicago area to an area near Memphis, Tenn., through Arkansas, to Houston, Texas, and finally to Hidalgo, Texas, at 10:45 p.m. on Monday.

His sister told police Jimenez called her and said he and Carrera had a bad fight and he left her bleeding, the affidavit said. Authorities said the couple were last seen at about 4 a.m. Saturday following a post-wedding celebration at a Chicago nightclub.

Relative: Groom had 'bad fight' with bride found in bathtub
Illinois police on the hunt for groom of slain bride found in bathtub

Jimenez told another close associate that he was leaving Illinois and the associate should tell police he has fled to Mexico.

Carrera, 26, is the mother of two children. Jimenez is the father of the youngest, a 2-year-old boy, the victim's family said.

Jimenez, according to officials, was last known to be driving a black, four-door 2006 Maserati with Illinois license plates.

Just two days after her wedding, Estrella Carrera, 25, was found stabbed to death in her own bathtub. She was still in the dress she wore at her wedding reception. WMAQ-TV's Lauren Jiggetts reports.

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