Flowers and ring in hand, Selvin Chajon Rodriguez brought his ex-girlfriend and their two young children to a park to propose to the mother of his children. When she refused, he allegedly said he would kill her and their children.
Two days later, the 25-year-old mother, Laura Reveriano, filed for a restraining order against Rodriguez with the Riverside County Superior Court, Sergeant David Amador of the Riverside Police Department told The Huffington Post.
"Selvin called and told me he would follow me to the end of the earth and he would kill the kids if they are not with him and there would be nowhere I could hide," Reveriano's request for the restraining order said, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Three days after she filed the request, Reveriano and her children, Selvin Chajon, 4, and Emily Chajon, 1, were found stabbed to death Thursday in her home in Riverside, Calif.
Corona police responded to an emergency call and were the first to arrive at the scene. Minutes later, using a description of the vehicle in which he fled, they found Rodriguez, 23, covered in blood and carrying a knife as he walked along the 91 freeway.
Rodriguez allegedly tried to steal a car to escape the pursuing officers, but was shot by police before he could get away. The suspect is now in the jail ward of the Riverside County Regional Medical Center and expected to survive, according to Sgt. Amador.
A temporary restraining order had been granted to Reveriano the day after she requested it, although it had not yet been served to Rodriguez. Filers usually have restraining orders served by a friend, a hired processor or the Sheriff's Department, according to Amador.
Even if Rodriguez had received the restraining order, it probably would not have prevented the murders, Amador told HuffPost. "It's obvious he was in a state of mind that a restraining order wouldn’t have prevented him from doing what he was going to do anyway," he said. "There are thousands of examples where individuals have killed their spouse in a fit of rage, and they've previously threatened to do so, and there's been restraining orders."
Just before Reveriano filed for the restraining order, Rodriguez broke a window in her house and the shattered glass cut her sleeping son's chest, Amador said. Rodriguez also allegedly stole Reveriano's car key and cellphone after she turned down his marriage proposal.
In addition, Reveriano wrote in her restraining order request that Rodriguez was repeatedly sending threatening text messages, including one saying he would "put a knife to [her] waist" and take her children away, the Times reports.
The Riverside District Attorney's office has charged Rodriguez with three counts of murder with "special circumstances," use of a knife, first-degree burglary, attempted carjacking, stealing the victim's vehicle, making criminal threats, child endangerment involving a death and resisting arrest, Amador told HuffPost.
Because of the "special circumstances" -- a charge resulting from the allegations of multiple murders -- Rodriguez could face the death penalty.
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