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Rivas allegedly stabbed Santiago inside the Tu S’tilo Salon and Spa on 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights.
By Forum Staff
After fatally stabbing his wife inside of a Jackson Heights nail salon during the evening hours of Aug. 7, a Corona man has been charged with second-degree murder and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
William Rivas, 39, allegedly entered the salon—where the victim worked—and repeatedly plunged a knife into the woman’s torso.
Rivas, who was hospitalized after the incident, was arraigned via video link from New York–Presbyterian Hospital Queens before Queens Criminal Court Judge Karina Alomar who ordered him held without bail and to return to court on Sept. 20.
Acting Queens District Attorney John Ryan said, “This crime is a horrific act of domestic violence. The defendant in this case … burst into the salon as his wife worked and mercilessly stabbed her to death in front of horrified onlookers. The defendant—now in custody—faces the possibility of spending his life behind bars for his alleged actions.”
Shortly before 7 p.m. on August 7, Rivas entered Tu S’tilo Salon and Spa located on 37th Avenue and 93rd Street and approached his estranged wife, 35-year-old Carmen Iris Santiago and stabbed her multiple times in the torso. The victim, the mother of two, was transported to a nearby hospital where she died. Rivas remained at the scene and was apprehended after police discovered him lying on top of his wife’s bloodied body. Rivas was later removed to a local hospital where he was treated for lacerations sustained during the attack.
If convicted, Rivas faces up to 25 years to life in prison.
