Woman told family her boyfriend stabbed her, AZ cops say. Her body was found in desert
The body of a missing woman was found in the Arizona desert four days after her disappearance was reported by her family, police said.
Irene Luevano, 37, a mother of six, called her family around 4 a.m. on Jan. 16, KNXV reported. She told them her boyfriend had stabbed her in the neck, Phoenix police said in a probable cause statement.
She asked them to call the police, the statement says. Her family filed a missing person’s report around 7:10 a.m.
By 11:26 a.m., Luevano’s boyfriend, Jorge Quintero Lara, showed up at a hospital with a “sharp force injury to his stomach,” police said.
He told investigators he had been robbed and denied injuring Luevano.
But he hadn’t been robbed, police said.
He is accused of stabbing Luevano in the neck while he was driving. Then she ran from the vehicle but Quintero Lara caught her and drove off, police said.
Luevano then stabbed Quintero Lara and he grabbed the knife and stabbed her until he believed she was dead, police said in the statement.
The woman’s car was found with “large amounts of blood” both inside and outside of the vehicle, police said in the statement. Police said the blood belonged to Luevano and Quintero Lara.
Luevano’s body was found in the desert on Jan. 20 multiple times, police said.
“At least we have relief that they found her already, but we’re hurting so much,” Luevano’s sister told KPNX.
Officers initially arrested Quintero Lara on charges unrelated to his girlfriend, but he now faces multiple charges connected to her death:
- First-degree murder
- Abandonment or concealment of a dead body
- Aggravated assault
- Kidnapping, apprehension of injury
His bail is set at $1 million.
This story was originally published January 21, 2022 at 7:37 PM with the headline "Woman told family her boyfriend stabbed her, AZ cops say. Her body was found in desert."
