On the Go: RSS | Email Alerts | Mobile and iPhone

Sub-Navigation

Southeast Valley

Side Navigation

Marketplace
- Lifestyle Guides

Sub-Navigation

More News

	WINTER STORM WATCH
	Alert: 1 dead in I-10 crash near downtown Phoenix, traffic blocked
	Alert: DPS: Officer-involved wreck shuts down I-17 in Phoenix

Search Arizona News by Date

CHANDLER

Print this Story

911 call released in Chandler love triangle, murder mystery

Reported by: Katrina Wessman
Email: kwessman@abc15.com
Reported by: Jodie Heisner
Reported by: Brent Roulier
Last Update: 4/15/2009 3:17 pm

	UPDATE 2: Teen's murder linked to love triangle with Chandler teacher
	UPDATED: Teen's murder linked to love triangle with Chandler teacher
	Teen's murder linked to love triangle with Chandler teacher

Slideshow

Samuel Valdivia

Click the play button on the video window to the see the story

CHANDLER, AZ -- Police have released the identity of a teacher involved in a love triangle that may have been to blame for a teen's stabbing death from Friday. They've also released the 9-1-1 call that was made by the alleged killer.

Chandler police said 48-year-old Tamara Hofmann, a math teacher at El Dorado High School, was having a relationship with the 18-year-old victim, but was also engaged to the suspected stabber.

According Chandler Police Sgt. Joe Favazzo, his department received an anonymous 911 just after 2:30 a.m. from a person who said someone had been stabbed at Hofmann's home near Warner and Dobson roads.

When police arrived at the scene, they reportedly found 18-year-old Samuel Valdivia on the bathroom floor with multiple stab wounds and 20-year-old Sixto Balbuena with blood stains on his body.

A police probable cause statement showed Balbuena told police he "wanted to teach the victim a lesson," and stabbed him in the lower side with a kitchen knife.

Valdivia was transported to a local hospital in critical condition where he later died, according to police.

On Tuesday, police released the 9-1-1 call that investigators say was made by Balbuena.

The voice heard in the call was calm as he told the dispatcher what happened.

Dispatcher: "911 emergency."

Caller: "Yeah someone's been stabbed."

Police said Balbuena told the dispatcher his name was Johnny and that he didn't know who stabbed the victim.

As you listen you can hear the woman in the middle, Hofmann crying in the background.

Police say Balbuena is a former student of Hofmann's and now her fiancé.

Police said this isn't the first incident involving Balbuena and Hofmann. The first, a suspicious vehicle call in 2006 when the suspect was just 17.

"They did a quick search of Sixto and on Sixto's person he found a bra that evidently belonged to Tamara Hofmann," said Joe Favazzo with Chandler police.

Favazzo says Hofmann was not charged in that incident, but police are looking into her past to determine if any charges will be pressed.

Hofmann is currently suspended with pay from Chandler's El Dorado High School, however, the principal told ABC15 if the allegations of a relationship are true she will be fired.

Police arrested Balbuena who is in the US Navy and has no prior criminal history, and charged him with one count of second-degree murder.

Police said Balbuena told them he was on liberty from the Navy and called Hofmann, who his brother said had also been his teacher at Marcos de Niza High School in Tempe, saying he was coming for a visit.

He reportedly called her cell phone from outside the residence around 2 a.m., but when there was no answer he went into the unlocked front door.

Balbuena said he heard noises from the master bedroom and thought there was something wrong, so he grabbed a knife from the kitchen, according to the report.

Balbuena allegedly saw the male victim, who was wearing only underwear, run to the bathroom and chased him before the attack.

Valdivia's brother-in-law, Julio Laurean, said he suspected something suspicious of Hofmann. Laurean said Valdivia had mentioned that Hofmann had been hitting on him in the past and that he should have noticed that something was up when Valdivia was receiving 100 percent on his assignments.

Bond for Balbuena is set at $100,000.