Manuel Salcedo seemed happy to have killed his lifelong girl-friend, the man's brother testified Tuesday.
Salcedo smiled briefly after recounting how he cut Denice Lo-vato's throat last year. He also told his brother he thought about murdering the woman in the days before she died, his brother, Armando Salcedo, told a judge.Lovato, a 39-year-old mother of four, bled to death July 25 in the Kearns home she and Salcedo once shared. The state's chief medical examiner said Lovato suffered a deep, slashing wound to the left side of her throat that severed both her jugular vein and carotid artery.
Salcedo, 44, confessed to his brother that evening. "He was acting pretty cool, pretty much like nothing had happened. I asked him how he felt and he said, `I feel good.' He had a little bit of a smile," Armando Salcedo testified.
His brother then asked him to help dispose of the body, either in the Jordan River or in the mountains. Armando Salcedo refused, so Manuel Salcedo talked about leaving the country for Mexico.
He did, just as detectives found Lovato on the bed she had shared with Salcedo for 13 years. Police arrested him last April in Jolliet, Ill., after he led them on a chase.
Third District Judge Robin Reese ordered him to stand trial on charges of first-degree murder following the preliminary hearing Tuesday. Defense attorneys argued Salcedo should be tried for manslaughter, a second-degree felony, because he was acting "under extreme emotional distress" when he attacked Lovato.
Salcedo told his brother he and Lovato had just finished having sex when Lovato said, "Now I've got you. I'm going to put you in prison for life for raping me. I have the evidence."
Salcedo "snapped" when he heard that threat and reached for the knife, said defense attorney Susanne Gustin-Furgis.