A man who served prison time for killing his wife 20 years ago was held without bail as he faced murder charges in the stabbing deaths of two women in Worcester, Massachusetts, Friday.
There were few details shared at the hearing in Worcester District Court on the killings of Ana Maria Martinez and Sergia Acosta, but court documents revealed more information on the case against William Rodriguez, who was arrested last week in New York City as a person of interest.
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Family members have told NBC10 Boston that the 58-year-old Martinez was the daughter of Acosta, 76. They held funerals for the pair before Rodriguez' hearing, laying them to rest side-by-side.
"He's a monster, a demon," said Genesis Berrios, granddaughter and niece of the victims, of Rodriguez as she left court Friday.
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There were two sets of calls to police in the minutes leading up to the discovery of Martinez' and Acosta's bodies, according to a criminal complaint filed in Worcester District Court.
Police were called to the Worcester apartment where the mother and daughter had been found on Aug. 24 with fatal stab and slash wounds. And minutes earlier, the department received a request to check on the welfare of Rodriguez from someone saying that he was dating Martinez, but that they'd been arguing.
Rodriguez allegedly sent a video earlier that day referring to his girlfriend cheating on him, and someone found a note in his apartment that read, in Spanish, "Women who make mistakes will receive what is coming." He had left his car and the keys at a caller's home and left.
Both the court documents and a Worcester County assistant district attorney in court noted that surveillance footage showed Rodriguez entering and exiting the Webster Square Towers apartment where the bodies were later found, and he was the last person inside until the people who eventually called 911 about 1:08 p.m. that Saturday.
A medical examiner found that both women died of multiple sharp-force injuries, by homicide, according to the criminal complaint.
Rodriguez had a court-appointed attorney in court Friday. The judge approved the attorney's motion for funds as they evaluated his mental health. The lawyer told reporters there were "issues of competency and responsibility" after being returned from New York.
Berrios had a message for Rodriguez: "I hope every single day you are behind bars you remember my aunt's face, my grandma's face, and everyone who was here today with us."
She said Rodriguez and Martinez met at church, and that the man tried to pursue a relationship with her after being let out on parole in his previous manslaughter case, but that things turned sour once she found out about his criminal past.
"My aunt didn't want anything else to do with him and I think that's what drove him to madness," Berrios said.
While Rodriguez was at large as a person of interest, police said he "should be considered armed and dangerous" as they investigated what led to the discovery of the two bodies.
Family members of the women who died have previously said Rodriguez wanted to be in a relationship with Martinez and became angry when she refused. They said Acosta died helping her fight off the man.
Police haven't confirmed those details, saying only that it's being investigated as a domestic incident.
Rodriguez, 59, previously served prison time for fatally stabbing his wife in 2004, the Worcester County District Attorney's Office said. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2007.
Prosecutors have confirmed that Rodriguez was "the same person who pled guilty to manslaughter" in October of 2007. They said he had been released on parole on June 7, 2019.
