by Mindy Aguon

Guam - A 35-year-old woman died on Sunday night after she was shot in the head by her estranged husband. The suspect had been arrested four months ago after threatening to kill the woman and their three kids and was scheduled to report back to court on Wednesday.

16-year-old Justin Flores was at home sleeping on Sunday evening when heard a loud noise come from the back of his house. "I ran outside," he recalled, "I thought it was my dog that hit my pot down, but it wasn't. Something going on back at that house." As he ran outside, Flores says he saw police and a man standing outside the front door of the home, holding a gun. "I heard a cop going up the road saying, 'Put the gun down!' and other stuff like that.

"I was pretty shocked. It's pretty sad what happened there," he said.

Flores says the neighborhood on Chalan Karetan Trosu in Astumbo, Dededo is normally pretty quiet, but last night the area was filled with police activity. Officer A.J. Balajadia, spokesman for the Guam Police Department, said, "When the officers arrived to the scene they noticed a male individual holding a gun on the outside of the residence. They were able to take the individual into custody and enter the residence, where they found a female approximately 35 years old, non-responsive and with no pulse, and she appeared to have been the victim of a gunshot."

The victim, 35-year-old Emma Catapang Cepeda, was found dead with a gunshot wound to her leg and head. Her estranged husband, 36-year-old Emmanuel Cabrera Cepeda, was arrested early Monday morning on charges of aggravated murder, murder, aggravated assault, family violence, possession and use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm without a firearms ID.

The victim had pleaded to the court for protection from her abusive husband and warned that his release from jail would result in her being killed.

Four months ago Emmanuel Cepeda was arrested after he allegedly became upset with his wife and threw a Tabasco bottle at her while she was in bed. According to court documents, Emmanuel then began hitting her repeatedly on her head and then kicked her. Emma's son was awakened by hearing his mother being beaten and tried to stop Emmanuel, but was told to shut up or he would be assaulted, too. Emmanuel then allegedly went and got a kitchen knife and held it to Emma's neck, telling her he was going to end her life and their three kids because she was going to turn him into police and he was going to go to jail. When he was arrested, Emmanuel told police he wanted to end their lives because he was under a lot of stress.

As a result of last October's arrest, Emmanuel Cepeda was indicted and Guam Legal Services was able to get a permanent protective order against him to prevent him from threatening, harassing or disturbing Emma and her three children.

According to her declaration, she stated that her husband of 13 years had been controlling and verbally and physically abusive to her since the beginning of their relationship. She also stated that her husband had threatened that if she reported him and he got arrested, once he was released, he would look for them and kill her and her three sons. Despite her concerns, Emmanuel was released from jail back on November 29 on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond. He was scheduled to appear back in court on Wednesday to find out when he will go to trial for last October's family violence arrest.

During a magistrate hearing this afternoon, Emmanuel Cepeda appeared via videoconference before Magistrate Judge Alberto Tolentino. He is being held on $1 million cash bail for the murder of his wife.