Man indicted in slaying of estranged wife

Kim Smith

Monday, April 29, 2002 | 10:04 a.m.

A Las Vegas man accused of stabbing his estranged wife to death in front of their 6-year-old child has been indicted.

Saul Lopez, 35, faces an open murder charge in the Feb. 25 slaying of his wife, Maria C. Lopez, 33.

Lopez will be arraigned May 2 on that count and charges of aggravated assault, burglary, preventing or dissuading a victim from reporting a crime and three counts of child abuse or neglect.

District Judge Kathy Hardcastle ordered Lopez to be held without bail at the urging of Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Laurent, who cited the heinous nature of the crime and said Lopez is also suspected of smuggling illegal aliens from Mexico into the U.S.

Investigators say Lopez went to his estranged wife's home in the 2500 block of Winwood Street, near Smoke Ranch Road and Jones Boulevard, about 9:50 a.m. the day of the slaying.

Maria Lopez, who had just filed for divorce days earlier, called 911 saying her estranged husband was in the house in violation of a court protection order, police said.

She was repeatedly stabbed while on the phone with the dispatcher as her youngest son watched, authorities said.

Prosecutors have described the call as particularly chilling. Maria Lopez is heard screaming "The kids, the kids" in Spanish during the assault and the child wails throughout the call.

One of the child abuse charges was filed as a result of the boy seeing the slaying, Chief Deputy District Attorney Abbi Silver said. The other two child abuse charges stemmed from repeated instances of abuse involving the Lopezes' older children, who are 13 and 14.

Maria Lopez had called police the weekend before she was killed to say her estranged husband had violated the order by coming over to the house, but he apparently left the home before officers arrived.

Silver said a team of prosecutors will determine within the next couple of weeks if Saul Lopez should face the death.