A Simi Valley man was charged with murder on Monday for fatally stabbing his girlfriend in a Simi Valley apartment and severely injuring her mother.
Euren Balbuena, a 29-year-old barber, was charged with the Feb. 27 murder of his girlfriend, identified as Zaira Patino, the Ventura District Attorney’s Office announced Monday. She was 31, according to the Ventura County Star.
Patino was found fatally stabbed after her mother ran out of an apartment building near the intersection of Los Angeles and Emory avenues, with lacerations and blood on her, to flag down passerby and tell them her daughter was dead, officials said.
Balbuena was charged with one count of murder and a special allegation that he used a knife during the commission of the crime. He was also charged with assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury for his assault of Patino’s 51-year-old mother, Ariadna Avetisyan.
Avetisyan was treated at a hospital for lacerations after the incident.
A neighbor, who did not want to be identified, told KTLA that Avetisyan ran to her while she was leaving for work on the morning of the incident. The neighbor said Avetisyan told her that her daughter’s boyfriend stabbed her daughter to death.
The neighbor said Avetisyan had large lacerations on her face and was crying and badly bleeding.
Police said that it appeared officers had responded to the apartment on previous occasions, but did not elaborate on the circumstances.
It was not clear whether Balbuena lived in the apartment.
Balbuena’s arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday. He is in custody at a Ventura County jail with bail set at $3 million.
