CHANDLER, Ariz. — An 18-year-old high school student caught with his 48-year-old math teacher in her bedroom was stabbed to death by her boyfriend, who was himself a former student of hers, police said Tuesday.
Chandler police said 20-year-old Sixto Balbuena told them he never meant to kill Samuel Valdivia. He allegedly told police “the blade went in like going into butter” and that he just wanted to show Valdivia how much he hurt him by sleeping with Tamara Hofmann.
Balbuena, a Navy sailor on leave from California, was arrested on a charge of second-degree murder after police found him covered in blood and told them about the killing. He was in jail Tuesday and did not have a lawyer.
Police said Balbuena told them he “wanted to teach the victim a lesson” and stabbed him in the lower side with a kitchen knife, according to a court document. Valdivia died at a hospital.
