Crime & Safety

Silver Spring Man Sentenced to Life for Stabbing Wife to Death

Hector Granados will serve 40 years of his sentence with five years probation, the Washington Post reports.

A 45-year-old Silver Spring man was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for the stabbing death of his estranged wife, the Washington Post reports. All but 40 years of the sentence was suspended, however, plus five years of probation, according to the newspaper. 

Hector Granados, of the 8700 block of Barron Street, pled guilty to stabbing his wife, Ana Ayala, 47, last May, months after she left him because of his alcoholism.

The Post reports that prosecution documents showed he had threatened and harrassed her repeatedly after the separation, confronting her at home, another time while she waited for a bus and again when she was on her way back from the grocery.

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Family members who testified during the sentencing said that Granados had a 20-year drinking problem, which, defense attorneys argued, caused him to become depressed and violent. 

Granados told investigators that he saw Ayala while walking to the beer store, confronted her and accused her of dating someone else, which she denied. After she told him that she didn't love him anymore, he stabbed her in her torso, arm and hand, injuring her femoral artery and colon, the Post said. 

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The woman's body was found in the front passenger seat of a car around 8:15 a.m. May 5, 2012, in the 8600 block of Garland Avenue, Patch reported. Ayala was later pronounced dead from her wounds at Medstar Washington Hospital Center. 

Granados and Ayala have two children, a son, age 15, and a younger daughter. Granados was ordered not to communicate with them after he is released from prison.


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