HONOLULU — A Hawaii-based soldier on Thursday pleaded not guilty in military court to first-degree premeditated murder in the January beating and stabbing death of his wife.
Spc. Raul Hernandez Perez also pleaded not guilty to disobeying a noncommissioned officer’s order that he have no contact with his wife, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.
Hernandez Perez, 23, is a signals intelligence analyst assigned to the 500th Military Intelligence Brigade.
His trial date has been set for Nov. 8.
Army prosecutors say the couple were going through a divorce initiated by Hernandez Perez, who wanted to get back together with a high school sweetheart in Florida.
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Military prosecutors said Hernandez Perez took out a $100,000 life insurance policy on his wife, Selena Roth, on Dec. 15. Early in the morning on Jan. 10, Hernandez Perez Googled in Roth’s home how many swings it took to kill someone with a bat, and then beat and stabbed her to death.
Her body was found on Jan. 13 stuffed in an outdoor trash bin outside the house on Schofield Barracks.
Prosecutors said Hernandez Perez used a several-foot-long piece of wood to beat her on the back of her head and used a kitchen knife to stab her four times in the back.