Redwood City: Prosecutors say man stabbed his child’s mother, her daughter
A 17-year-old girl spoke out about the alleged murder of her mother in a Redwood City stabbing that left her hospitalized for stab wounds in a GoFundMe posted Monday.
REDWOOD CITY — A man who had already violated a court order by moving into an apartment next to the mother of child was formally charged with her murder after a violent outburst left her dead and her daughter hospitalized, prosecutors say.
In a brief, harrowing account of the stabbing that left her hospitalized and killed her mother, a wounded teenager spoke publicly on an online fundraiser in attempt to seek help in the face of family tragedy.
On a GoFundMe posting written in both English and Spanish, 17-year-old Yenifer Lopez said her mother’s life was “ended out of jealousy” on July 30. According to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, 44-year-old Jose Uriarte-Martinez stabbed Lopez and fatally attacked her mother, Yesenia Lopez-Hernandez, also 44, in their Redwood City home on Sunday.
Uriarte-Martinez was arrested around 12:30 a.m. after police found the blood-splattered man standing outside an apartment building on the 3200 block of Fair Oaks Avenue. Uriarte-Martinez faces four felony charges: murder, attempted murder, child abuse and burglary. He was arraigned Tuesday.
According to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office, Uriarte-Martinez and Lopez-Hernandez were previously in a relationship for about five years, and had a 5-year-old son. The couple had broken up and lived separately, with Uriarte-Martinez on felony probation for a 2022 domestic violence conviction against Lopez-Hernandez.
Both parties were disregarding a 10-year no-contact order that had been in effect since the conviction, as Uriarte-Martinez lived in the apartment next door to his former partner, prosecutors said. He’s also facing a misdemeanor charge for contempt of court for violating the order.
According to San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe, the defendant entered the victim’s apartment with a key and a kitchen knife early Sunday morning, shortly after learning that Lopez-Martinez planned to move further north on the Peninsula with the two kids. He then stabbed her in the chest, neck and shoulder multiple times. She was alive and bleeding on the floor when paramedics arrived, but was pronounced dead after she was taken to a hospital.
Lopez, the 17-year-old daughter of Lopez-Hernandez, was also stabbed in the chest during a desperate attempt to help her mother, she said in the online fundraiser. Wagstaffe said that Lopez has been 100% cooperative with investigators through the early stages of the process.
“Right now I’m in the hospital trying to recover from several wounds caused by a knife by the same person that killed my mother, when I (tried) to defend her,” Lopez wrote on Monday.
After stabbing both victims, Uriarte-Martinez entered his son’s bedroom and apologized to the 5-year-old, prosecutors said.
Lopez wrote in the fundraiser that her young brother is now her responsibility, and she said that all money received from donations will go to the newfound expense changes in her life, and toward repatriating her mother’s body. As of Thursday morning, the GoFundMe raised about $15,000 of the $20,000 goal. Anyone who wants to give to the fundraiser can go to https://gofund.me/bfdb791c.
Uriarte-Martinez pleaded not guilty to all five criminal charges on Tuesday. His next appearance in court was set for Oct. 8, where a date will be set for a preliminary hearing. He’s currently being held in custody on no-bail status and was ordered to have no contact with both his son and Lopez.