Mother of 3 murdered before she could escape abusive relationship
By Felix Cortez
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SALINAS, California (KSBW) — A Salinas mother of three who was talking about leaving Salinas for Reno to escape an abusive relationship was murdered before she could make the move.
The accused killer is her estranged boyfriend and the father of two of the children who, according to police, witnessed their mother being stabbed to death in their north Salinas apartment.
“And he basically did it in front of them or in the area of the kids, so that’ll be one of the charges because the kids were present would be felony child endangerment,” said Brian Johnson, a spokesman for the Salinas Police Department.
Police say Eleni Tavau, 30, was murdered at her apartment on the 100 block of Natividad Road Sunday afternoon. She was stabbed in the chest while home alone with two of her toddler-aged children, fathered by the accused killer, Rodrigo Bravo, 32.
Investigators say less than three hours later, Bravo walked into the Salinas police station, told police they were looking for him and confessed to the crime.
“Getting more details of what happened, what transpired at the location, why he was even there, any sort of clue that’ll kind of wrap it up. But he did come in and turn himself in and said that he did do it,” said Johnson.
Investigators say Tavau had a restraining order against Bravo for domestic violence.
“So it’s not magic, but it does work majority of the time. But these are the unfortunate situations, and now a senseless murder occurred because of whatever his reasoning was,” said Johnson.
“I don’t understand why. I don’t understand how somebody could do something like that,” said Alex Carr, the younger brother of Tavau.
Speaking by phone from Reno, Tavau’s brother said he spoke with his sister just hours before she was murdered, and she indicated she wanted to leave the area.
“We were talking on the phone, and she was telling me that she wanted to move out here to Reno, Nevada, to come be with me and bring the kids over here and just so that we can be closer together,” said Carr.
The brother said his sister told him she was being abused.
“She started telling me how he started getting abusive, verbally, mentally and then physical, and she made it seem like, just didn’t want anything to do with him,” said Carr.
Bravo was booked into the Monterey County Jail on the following charges: first-degree murder, child cruelty, violation of a restraining order, and a probation violation.
He’s being held on $1 million bail. As for a motive, police say that is still under investigation.
If you or someone you know needs help, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline (Spanish and English speaking) at 800-799-7233 or start a text chat by texting START to 88788.
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