Police officers walked in and out of Avelina Parreira's second floor apartment on South Lovers Lane gathering evidence. Family members and close friends of Parreira stood by watching and comforting each other.
Friends say she loved managing the Villas and was always a positive person. Tenants say Parreira seemed like a happy and helpful manager.
Jami Bond, tenant, says "She'd go around and come and see how you're doing. Whenever she was walking by she would say hi and al that good stuff. It's just surprising that something horrible like that would happen to her.
Investigators say Parreira was stabbed once in the chest by her boyfriend Monday morning. The suspect, 45 year old Rodolfo Martinez, called police himself.
Sgt. Allyn Wightman, Visalia Police, says, "We received a call from the suspect himself who called 9-1-1 and stated that he had just stabbed his common law wife and was in front of the Visalia Police Department.
Wightman says Martinez seemed calm and claimed they had an argument this morning about ending their relationship. Friends say Parreira was trying to break up with Martinez and that he had made threats to her before. Sgt. Wightman says, "It was a very tragic event and we're trying to figure out why this happened."
Police say they hadn't received any domestic violence calls for the couple before this incident. This was Visalia's fourth murder of 2008. Rodolfo Martinez is being held without bail and expects to be arraigned on murder charges on Wednesday.
