Murdered Mom Died of Stab Wounds

Dia Palafox died from multiple stab wound and there's an arrest warrant against husband in connection with her death.

Palafox was found dead in her New Britain home on Thursday morning. She had filed a restraining order against her husband, Juan Palafox, 32, on Jan. 27. He is now in police custody in North Carolina.

Dia Palafox's mother found the 30-year-old woman's body on Thursday morning when she went to Dia's Brighton Street home.
She called police at 8 a.m. They cordoned off the house and applied for a search warrant to search the building.

After investigation, police are calling it a homicide and believe she was killed on Wednesday night or early Thursday.
A medical examiner will conduct an autopsy and determine how Palafox, a mother of three, died.

Police found her husband in Cumberland County, North Carolina, and he has been charged with violating a restraining order. Then, he was charged him with murder and is being held without bail in North Carolina until he is brought to Connecticut, where he will be held on a $5 million bond.

"Any time there's a tragedy like this, we're struck by the senselessness of it all, and the devastating impact that domestic violence has not only on the family that's involved, but on the community at large We're all impacted," said Barbara Damon, executive director for the Prudence Crandall Center.

Damon says domestic violence is a serious problem and sometimes a restraining order isn't enough to keep a person safe. 

"A restraining order is a tool, but it's not going to stop a bullet, not going to stop a fist, obviously it didn't stop the tragedy this morning, and if we have the opportunity to work with victims and come up with a safety plan and reduce the risk of injuries to themselves," said Damon.

The state is also working harder to enforce restraining orders. 

A domestic violence task force will give its suggestions on Monday.  State Rep. Mae Flexer, D-Danielson, says one of them will be GPS-tracking devices for high-risk restraining orders.

"Sometimes they don't work, and sometimes these batterers are pretty hard to get to back down," she said.

The goal is to identify the most high risk offenders, monitor their location and make the restraining orders more enforceable" Flexer said.

For information on a domestic violence shelter, call Connecticut's information line at 211.  There is also a 24-hour hotline at 888-774-2900.

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