Accused Killer on Trial for Slicing a Young Lover's Throat with a Kitchen Knife

After an evening of dinner and movies at home with her new boyfriend two years ago, Kristina Baltrimaviciene walked Teymur Huseynli to his car. Testifying in a DuPage County courtroom Tuesday, Baltrimaviciene spent a few hours describing to a judge and jury what happened on Nov. 16, 2012, how her life filled with terror and heartache as her ex slit her new beau’s throat before her eyes.

Joseph Spitalli “practically took his head off,” Assistant State’s Attorney Kirsten King said.

Baltrimaviciene’s white parka was sprayed with Huseynli’s blood. The parka was presented as evidence.

“I felt the hot blood on me,” the 30-year-old woman told jurors through tears via an interpreter, as quoted in the Chicago Tribune.

Spitalli, 36, of Darien, is on trial for first-degree murder and kidnapping. DuPage County prosecutors say Spitalli never got over his breakup with Baltrimaviciene. They met through an online dating site, and they broke up after a year because they argued too much. In September 2012, she tried to get an order of protection against Spitalli because she was afraid of him, but a judge denied the request in October, saying there wasn’t enough evidence.

Baltrimaviciene, a Lithuanian immigrant, began seeing Huseynli, a 31-year-old Azerbaijani immigrant who came to the United States in 2010, whom she met on the same dating site. They’d been dating for about three months.

Spitalli laid in wait for the young lovers and approached them with a kitchen knife. At first, he asked for money, according to authorities and Baltrimaviciene’s testimony, and then he shoved the new boyfriend and they traded words. Huseynli tried to walk away, and Spitalli attacked while his back was turned, according to prosecutors.

Leaving Huseynli’s body on the front lawn of the Wildwood Court apartments, Spitalli then forced her into his car and drove to his parents, where he concocted a story about being attacked by “two black guys” and said Baltrimaviciene came to him for help, according to prosecutors. If she didn’t lie, prosecutors said, he’d kill her and her daughter. His parents called 911, but Baltrimaviciene eventually told police and paramedics what really happened and Spitalli was arrested.

The 911 call was played in court Tuesday.

Huseynli came to the United States to study English and computer science, according to his friends. They called him by his nickname, Tima, and said he was “shy” and “sweet” and made friends easily.

A few months after Spitalli was arrested and held in jail without bail, authorities recorded him conspiring to hire a hitman to kill Baltrimaviciene, suggesting she die in a car crash or a heroin overdose. He said he could pay for the hit with cash his parents raised to pay for his legal defense. He also was recorded plotting to breaking out of jail.

In court Tuesday, his lawyers argued that the stabbing death of Huseynli was an accident. Two years ago, Spitalli told police he “blacked out” when he saw Huseynli kiss his ex girlfriend.

After Huseynli’s body was sent back to his parents in Azerbaijan for burial, his friend Baghir Hamidov told the Tribune that he and other friends would attend every court hearing on behalf of his family.

“We’ll make sure justice takes place and that the person responsible does not find a crack to slip through,” Hamidov said.