Cape Cod murder suspect stabbed ex-boyfriend during argument, court documents say

A Cape Cod woman was charged with murder Wednesday night after police found her in a wrecked car with a man who had been fatally stabbed, the Cape and Islands District Attorney's Office announced Thursday morning. The statement of facts in the case sheds light on how Renato Chaves, 33, ended up in a car on the way to a hospital with the woman who authorities say stabbed him to death.

• Learn more: Cape Cod woman charged with murder in stabbing death of man, DA says

What happened before the police arrived

In an interview with police through a Portuguese translator, murder suspect Juscelene Guedes, 29, explained that Chaves was her ex-boyfriend, according to court documents. He came to her apartment at 404 Great Marsh Road in Centerville Wednesday night and they argued, she said.

During the argument, Guedes said, Chaves pulled out a knife with a yellow handle and kicked him in the thigh, according to court documents. Somehow, she managed to wrestle the knife away from him, then she slashed his forearm with the knife before stabbing him in the chest, she told police.

Security camera footage and testimony from two of Guedes' neighbors indicate that Chaves entered Guedes' apartment at 404 Great Marsh Road around 7 p.m. Wednesday evening, according to court documents. When he came out of the house about seven minutes later, he was bleeding profusely from a stab wound to his chest.

One of the neighbors told police he was in a nearby driveway in his car when Chaves came out of the apartment, according to court documents. Chaves approached the neighbor and explained that his ex had stabbed him before asking him to take him to the hospital, the neighbor told police.

Chaves sat in the front passenger seat and, before he and his neighbor could leave, Guedes jumped into the back seat of the car and asked to accompany them to the hospital, according to court documents. Guedes repeatedly shouted Chaves' name as they walked to the hospital, but Chaves became pale and unresponsive, the neighbor told police.

Soon, the neighbor said, Guedes begged him not to turn her over to police because she would go to jail, according to court documents. The neighbor did not explain how the accident happened.

What happened after the police arrived

Police received several 911 calls about the crash near the TD Bank on Route 28 in Hyannis shortly before 7:20 p.m., according to court documents. Police discovered two cars had collided, with one landing at a nearby intersection and the neighbor's car stopping just north of the intersection.

The first officer on the scene quickly noticed Chaves in the front seat with a large blood stain on his chest, according to court documents. The officer opened his shirt and found a 1.5-inch stab wound in the middle of his chest, as well as a kitchen knife on the floor of the car.

The wound had stopped bleeding by the time the officer arrived at Chaves, but the officer still provided him with medical aid, according to court documents. An ambulance quickly took Chaves to Cape Cod Hospital, but he was pronounced dead shortly before 8:40 p.m.

The second officer to arrive at the scene was quickly informed by a woman who was nearby that there was a man with a knife wound in one of the cars, according to court documents. The woman noticed Guedes running away and shouted, “Catch her!” Get her! to the police officer, who chased Guedes and arrested her.

After a preliminary interview with Guedes, investigators went to his apartment and discovered a trail of blood from inside the apartment to the driveway, according to court documents. They also found a pile of cash on the kitchen table.

In a subsequent interview with police, Guedes said she and Chaves had a long history of domestic incidents, according to court documents. She claimed investigators would find numerous text messages and voicemails on her phone in which Chaves threatened her, but the statement of facts does not say whether that is actually the case.

And after

Guedes is expected to be arraigned Thursday in Barnstable County Court on charges of murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, the Cape and Islands District Attorney's Office previously announced. It is unclear whether she plans to argue in court that she killed Chaves in self-defense.