Suspect In Alleged 2020 Spousal Murder In Chula Vista Jailed

SAN DIEGO, CA — A man suspected of stabbing his wife to death in front of their young children at their Chula Vista home four years ago, then fleeing to Mexico, was behind bars Tuesday following his capture last spring and extradition back to the United States.

Mexican authorities transferred Francisco Caldera Uriarte, 41, to the custody of U.S. law enforcement in San Diego last week, according to the Chula Vista Police Department. He had been arrested south of the border in May.

Uriarte had been at large since March 29, 2020, when he allegedly killed his 35-year-old wife, Natalia, during a fight at their apartment in the 500 block of Oxford Street, about a mile and a half west of Castle Park High School. The couple's children, 9-year-old twins and a 3-year-old, were present at the time, police said.

Patrol officers responding to a report about the alleged domestic assault arrived to find Natalia Uriarte, a makeup artist, dead and her husband gone.

Uriarte was booked into San Diego Central Jail on Thursday on suspicion of murder and child endangerment. He was being held without bail pending arraignment, scheduled for Wednesday.

— City News Service