Inset: Roy Lopez (Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The California hospital where Roy Lopez allegedly left his dead wife inside a vehicle (KCRA/YouTube).
A California man murdered his wife while they were home with their three children, then drove her body to a hospital and told medical staff she was dead in the parking lot, cops say.
Roy Lopez, 37, allegedly pulled up to Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose with his wife in the passenger seat and told staffers he had just killed her at their Morgan Hill home, local NBC affiliate KNTV reports.
“Our dispatch center received a call from San Jose Police Department advising that a male subject had drove into the parking lot of Good Samaritan Hospital and advised people in the area that he had killed his wife,” Morgan Hill Police Department Sgt. Sean Bayard told KNTV.
Describing the couple’s children, Bayard said, “They were in the house, we believe, at the time, and they are in safe custody right now.”
The kids were found by officers during a “protective sweep” of the residence, according to an MHPD Facebook post. “The children were safely escorted to the Morgan Hill Police Department and later released into the custody of the Santa Clara County Department of Family and Children’s Services,” the post says.
Staffers tried lifesaving measures on Lopez’s wife after he arrived at the hospital, but she was pronounced dead in the parking lot. Lopez was taken into custody at the hospital without incident.
According to KNTV, police say a firearm was not used in the killing. Officials have not yet released a motive.
Police expect to present the case to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office for prosecution in the coming days.
