Federal Way police report that a local man accused of committing a murder in May has been arrested in Texas and will be extradited to Washington.
According to Federal Way Police Department Cmdr. Kyle Buchanan, on Nov. 19, Jose Guadalupe Linares-Morales, 37, of Federal Way, was arrested in the area of Dallas, Texas. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Linares-Morales with second-degree murder on May 9, but officers were still searching for him at that point because he had fled the state.
His charge stems from a May 3 stabbing that left Oscar Rios-Villanueva, 34, dead in the parking lot of a Federal Way apartment complex.
Details of the case
At about 11:04 p.m. May 3, a shooting was reported at 119 S. 330th Street. The caller reported that one person was on the ground in the parking lot.
Documents state that at about 11:08 p.m., officers arrived and observed a man administering CPR to a person who was later identified as Rios-Villanueva. Officers found that Rios-Villanueva had a wound to his left chest area. Medical personnel responded, but were unable to revive him at the scene.
Officers at the scene interviewed the victim’s 15-year-old pregnant daughter, who said that Linares-Morales stabbed her father. The victim’s daughter told officers that Linares-Morales’s 17-year-old son was her boyfriend and that he assaulted her, so she called her mother to tell her.
According to documents, Rios-Villanueva then called Linares-Morales to find out what was happening. Documents state that Rios-Villanueva’s wife overheard that Linares-Morales was telling Rios-Villanueva that he was going to kill him.
According to documents, two friends of Rios-Villanueva’s went with him to pick up his daughter from Linares-Morales’ home. One of the friends told officers that, upon arriving in the parking lot, the two friends exited while Rios-Villanueva searched for a parking spot.
One of the friends told officers that he then saw two males walk up to Rios-Villanueva’s car window and begin to punch him. The friend stated that Rios-Villanueva then exited his car and began to punch one of the men before one of the friends shot a gun in the air as a warning shot. The friend stated that the two men then ran away while Rios-Villanueva was unresponsive on the ground.
Rios-Villanueva’s daughter stated that Linares-Morales then went outside, and when he returned to the apartment, he stated he had stabbed someone because they were bothering him.
Rios-Villanueva’s daughter told officers that she went outside and saw her father lying on the ground.
According to documents, officers spoke to someone who was speaking on the phone with Rios-Villanueva right before he was stabbed. The person said that he heard Linares-Morales say on the phone, “Get out of the car, I’m going to kill you,” before the call dropped.
Documents state that an autopsy revealed that Rios-Villanueva suffered a single stab wound to the left side of his chest. The stab wound pierced the front of his heart and aorta.
According to charging documents, Linares-Morales shut off his phone the day of the alleged offense, but he would periodically turn it back on. Documents state that his phone showed he was in the Portland, Oregon, area on May 3, and on May 4, it showed he was in Woodland, California.
