Left inset: Pedro Grajales (Hartford Police Department). Right inset: Nilda Rivera (WTIC). Background: The McDonald’s in Hartford, Conn., that Pedro Grajales took Nilda Rivera to before stabbing her 25 times in a parking lot (Google Maps).
A “very jealous” boyfriend in Connecticut is headed to prison for decades after stabbing his girlfriend to death inside his car “upwards of 25 times” because he thought she was cheating on him, according to court documents.
Pedro Grajales, 55, of Hartford, was sentenced to 30 years in prison last Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to murder in December, according to online court records viewed by Law&Crime.
An arrest warrant obtained by local Fox affiliate WTIC and CT Insider said Grajales took his girlfriend, Nilda Rivera, 57, of New Britain, to a McDonald’s for a final meal before driving her to a parking lot and killing her in April 2023.
Grajales drove Rivera’s body to a local police station and then walked inside to confess, telling police he was “planning to murder her for several days” because he believed she had cheated on him.
“[Grajales] was intentionally treating her very nice so she would not suspect there was an issue,” the warrant said, noting how Grajales hid a knife in his pants pocket before picking Rivera up and taking her to a McDonald’s on Brainard Road in Hartford.
The couple ordered from the drive-thru and then Grajales let Rivera eat her food in the McDonald’s parking lot before driving her to a secluded lot nearby. Grajales pretended he needed to grab some lumber, and acted as if he was getting out of the car to grab it before attacking Rivera.
“[Grajales] moved his seat all the way back so he could have enough room to swing the knife,” his arrest warrant said. “Grajales removed the knife from his left pocket and began stabbing [Rivera] multiple times as she sat in the front passenger seat.”
Grajales told police that he “watched” as Rivera “gasped for air” and “waited for her to die” before driving her lifeless body to the Hartford Police Department to report what happened, according to the warrant.
Rivera’s family told WTIC after the slaying that Grajales was “very jealous” and “would look in her phone and delete stuff and go on her social media and delete people,” the station reported in April 2023.
“My mom was just looking for love,” said Daniella Valle, Rivera’s daughter. “She was a mother. She was a grandmother. She was a friend.”
