Los Angeles-area woman fatally stabbed in front of her children, boyfriend arrested

The boyfriend of a woman he allegedly stabbed to death in front of her five children outside Los Angeles has been arrested, authorities said Monday. 

Sergio Viilalobos-Jimenez, 54 was taken into police custody in South El Monte, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said. He was identified as a suspect in the Friday killing of 45-year-old Milagros Medina in East Los Angeles.

Authorities received a tip that he had been walking in the area when he was arrested. He surrendered and is slated to appear in court Tuesday. 

LOS ANGELES WOMAN INJURED BY TEEN HIT-AND-RUN DRIVER BLASTS DA GEORGE GASCON AT EARLY RELEASE HEARING

Medina’s family said she was stabbed by her live-in boyfriend and was killed in front of her children – ages 3, 11, 13, 15 and 18, along with the 18-year-old’s close friend – Fox Los Angeles reported. 

“It was really gruesome,” a family friend told the news outlet. “Her five children saw it, [along with] her three-year-old son. There was a lot of blood splattered everywhere. The blood went onto him [the 3-year-old], and that’s what really broke me.”

The family said Medina was stabbed after she tried breaking up with Viilalobos-Jimenez.

A GoFundMe page set up in support of Medina’s family said the children’s father died four years ago.