Chicago Man Charged With Murder For Stabbing Ex-Girlfriend After She Implicated Him In Dying Breath

A woman who was stabbed to death while waiting for a train identified her ex-boyfriend as her killer in her dying breath, Chicago police said.

Alejandro Arellano of Chicago, 31, was charged with first-degree murder after he allegedly stabbed his 26-year-old girlfriend Samantha Maldonado at least four times Saturday, according to local outlet WTTW. He was denied bail at his initial court appearance on Monday.

RELATED: Arkansas Teen Who Went Missing After Date Found Shot To Death In Remote Wilderness

Arellano and Maldonado were coworkers who had been in a relationship for about six months before breaking up last week, the New York Post reported. 

Before the fatal stabbing, the couple was seen arguing in a corner at Miller's Pub in Chicago's downtown Loop neighborhood. Patrons saw Maldonado running out of the bar with Arellano in pursuit around 1:20 a.m. that morning.

The woman was captured walking up the stairs to the Wabash Ave. and Adams St. Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) station around 1:26 a.m. A surveillance camera captured the man in pursuit, pulling a folding knife from his pocket.

Alejandro Arellano Photo: Chicago Police Department

Maldonado first tried and failed to hide from Arellano behind an equipment box on the platform. When she attempted to board an arriving southbound train and escape, her former lover pushed her away from the opening doors.

Then, Cook County State Attorney Anne McCord said at Arellano's court appearance, the man "grabbed [Maldonado's] neck and shoulder area and stabbed her multiple times" in the chest, abdomen and left arm.

Maldonado tried to flee, stumbling down a flight of stairs while bleeding profusely and struggling to breathe. Arellano, prosecutors said, boarded a train home at the CTA station. 

Maldonado made it back down to the street and allegedly gasped "Alejandro" when she collapsed. Witnesses — among them security guards from the pub — tried to help. Before succumbing to her injuries at a local hospital, prosecutors said, Maldonado uttered her ex-boyfriend's full name to paramedics. 

“A key piece of evidence in this case came from the victim herself: She named Arellano as the offender before she succumbed to her injuries,” First Deputy Superintendent Eric Carter said at a Monday press conference, according to ABC 7 Chicago. 

Less than 14 hours after the attack, around 3 p.m., Chicago Police Department officers arrested Arellano at his home on North Kimball St. Police said he had not changed clothes and still had the murder weapon in his pocket. Maldonado's blood was still on his pants, shoes and the knife. 

In a police interview, according to the Post, Arellano identified himself in the CTA security footage and told police he had "poked" the woman once with the knife in the heat of an argument. 

However, according to WTTV, Arellano allegedly stated that if the woman had been stabbed more than once, it would have been at his hand.

In 2014, Arellano was arrested for allegedly brandishing a knife, according to FOX 32 Chicago, and was charged with aggravated assault but the case against him was dropped.

Maldonado's cousin told ABC 7 that her slain relative was an engineer who had moved less than a year ago from her native country of Ecuador. Her family was thankful, she told the outlet, that her cousin was able to implicate her killer before her tragic death. 

"We're thankful she was able to share that information, mostly," the cousin told the station. "And for us, we're just really grateful that we're able to have an answer. It helps the family feel more at peace."

Arellano's next court appearance is scheduled for March 31.