Nurse Pleads Guilty to Murdering Wife Cuddling with Friend

A registered nurse who shot his estranged wife and her male friend after watching them cuddle in her Sabre Springs apartment pleaded guilty Monday to second-degree murder charges.

Melchor Marabante, 43, will be sentenced to 80 years to life in prison by Judge Peter Deddeh on Oct. 9.

In addition to second-degree murder, the defendant admitted the use of a gun in the Feb. 20, 2011, murders of his 23-year-old wife, Valerie, and her colleague and friend, 26-year-old Bernabe Villamar.

Valerie Marabante worked as a registered nurse at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in Otay Mesa, and Villamar was a licensed vocational nurse at the prison.

The defendant had been served with divorce papers three weeks before the killings and his wife had kicked him out of their apartment, according to court testimony.

Retired San Diego police Officer Kenneth Hodges testified at a hearing last year that Villamar's body was found in the living room and Valerie Marabante's body was found in the garage.

A patio door had been broken out from the outside and a broken tree stake was found nearby, Hodges testified.

Philip Marabante testified that his brother told him that he saw his wife and her friend kissing and hugging and then shot them with a gun that his sibling had taken away from him and put in his trunk when the defendant moved in with him.

Philip Marabante said his brother had told him he thought his wife was having an affair with a co-worker.

-City News Service