JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man who was arrested and charged in connection with his mother’s murder had previously threatened to kill her with a knife, but the charges were dropped, court records show.
Hector Munoz-Ochoa, 24, who is accused of stabbing 55-year-old Lilian Ochoa-Menjivar to death on Saturday, was arrested in 2020 after Ochoa-Menjivar told police her son threatened to kill her with a knife during an argument that happened inside the kitchen, according to his arrest report.
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In November 2020, Menjivar-Ochoa called the police and told them that her son was “possibly on drugs or narcotics and was acting ”irate" and “loud” when he used a knife to threaten to kill her.
Munoz-Ochoa, who described to officers an “out of body” experience and “consistently stated how the victim was treating him,” was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill. But that charge was later dropped and the case was closed, according to court records.
Just over a year after that incident, Munoz-Ochoa was arrested again in December 2021 after he was accused of pulling out a knife from his pocket and cutting a man below the lip during a domestic dispute.
Munoz-Ochoa was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in connection with that incident. However, records show that he was adjudicated incompetent to proceed with his case due to mental illness and was sent to a mental health treatment facility.
Almost four years after that incident, Munoz-Ochoa was charged with fatally stabbing his mother.
JSO said at around 3:05 p.m. on Saturday, officers responded to a home on Peach Drive to help Jacksonville Fire and Rescue address a “medical situation.”
When they arrived, police said they found Ochoa-Menjivar suffering from multiple stab wounds.
Ochoa-Menjivar died inside the home, according to JSO.
Munoz-Ochoa was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.
“Our work isn’t done; we’ll work alongside our partners at the State Attorney’s Office to make sure Munoz-Ochoa is held accountable for his actions,” JSO wrote in a release.
The daughter of Ochoa-Menjivar created a GoFundMe fundraiser to collect money for her funeral and send her mother back to Honduras so “her loved ones can say goodbye.”
Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to contact JSO by calling 904-630-0500.