Accused killer in fatal Valley love triangle gets 10 years

PHOENIX - A man was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison in the stabbing death of a Valley teen caught up in an apparent love triangle.

The family of 18-year-old Samuel Valdivia left the courtroom disappointed in the sentence saying they do not have closure.

"He's going to do 10 years, but we will do a lifetime," said Julio Laurean, Valdivia's brother-in-law.

In April 2009, Sixto Balbuena was engaged to then 48-year-old Tamara Hoffman when he found Hoffman naked and Samuel Valdivia wearing only his boxers in her bedroom.

Both were students of Hoffman.

Balbuena had been a senior at Tempe's Marco de Niza High School in 2007 and Valdivia was a senior at El Dorado High School in Chandler.

Police said Balbuena stabbed Valvidia in the side with a kitchen knife. Valdivia later died at a hospital.

Balbuena, a Navy sailor on leave from California, was arrested when detectives found him covered in blood.

He told officers he never meant to kill Valdivia, but that he just wanted to show him how much he hurt him by sleeping with Hofmann.

Just before his sentencing, Balbuena apologized to the court then turned and faced the family.

"I'm going to face them. I want to ask your forgiveness for all that has happened," Balbuena said.

The family apology didn't seem sincere enough for the family that now lives in pain.

"He said he didn't mean to hurt him, but I don't believe that," said Placida Maldonado, the victim's mother.

"It felt like he was just trying to get out of the hole, that's how I felt," Laurean said.

But the family doesn't entirely blame Sixto Balbuena.

They say Hoffman should be held responsible.

"She's truly at fault. She's crazy and should not have been dating boys. She was 48 years old and my brother only 18," a sister said.

His mother agrees, "There are two victims here. One is dead and the other now behind bars."

Hoffman gave up her teaching credentials, but the family says she got off free.

"She needs to be charged with something. She set up these two young boys and two lives are lost, while she runs around in Texas," Laurean said.