Murder Trial Scheduled In Boyfriend Slaying: RivCo Court

SAN JACINTO, CA — A 28-year-old woman accused of fatally stabbing her boyfriend during an argument in San Jacinto must stand trial for murder and other charges, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Wynette Clara Nunez of San Jacinto was arrested in July after she allegedly perpetrated the fatal attack on 27-year-old Mauro Villiasenor, also of San Jacinto, in the 100 block of Boxelder Way, near Elderberry Street.

Read: Murder Charge Filed Against Woman In San Jacinto Stabbing

Following a preliminary hearing at the Banning Justice Center, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Jorge Hernandez determined that there was sufficient evidence to warrant a trial on the murder count, as well as a sentence-enhancing allegation of using a deadly weapon -- a knife -- in the commission of a felony.

The judge scheduled a post-preliminary hearing arraignment for April 20 and left Nunez's bail set at $1 million. She's being held at the nearby Smith Correctional Facility.

According to Sgt. Ben Ramirez of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, at about 10 p.m. last July 4, Nunez and Villiasenor got into an unspecified domestic squabble that culminated in the defendant allegedly grabbing a knife and stabbing him.

Witnesses called 911, and patrol deputies reached the location a few minutes later, Ramirez said.

He said that when they tried the front door, it was locked, but they could hear "sounds of distress," prompting them to forcibly enter the residence.

"Deputies found the male victim with significant injuries," Ramirez said.
Paramedics arrived soon afterward and attempted life-saving measures, but Villiasenor died at the scene.

According to Ramirez, Nunez was detained at the property and questioned by homicide detectives until the predawn hours the next day, at which point she was arrested and booked into jail.

The defendant has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.