A Fayette County man accused of fatally stabbing his wife in front of their three young children on Jan. 20 was here illegally, according to the federal immigration officials.

Jesus Ojeda Jimenez, 34, was deported to Mexico in April 2010, two months after he pled guilty to striking Liliana Ruiz, 30, multiple times in an assault Nov. 14, 2009 that left her with a number of bruises and abrasions all over her body, a swollen eye and a bloody nose, according to the sheriff’s incident report.

Now, Ruiz is dead, allegedly at the hands of her husband, who turned himself in Jan. 21 and faces murder charges.

The killing occurred in front of the couple’s three boys, who are 5, 10 and 11 years old, The Citizen has learned. One of the kids actually called 911 to report the assault in progress, which sent deputies racing to the family’s home on Greenview Circle in the Landmark Mobile Home Park just before 8 p.m. Jan. 20.

When the deputies arrived, they found Ruiz had died, and Jimenez had fled the scene.

With the encouragement of family members, Ruiz turned himself in the next day at the Fayette County Jail, sheriff’s officials said.

In the 2009 assault, Jimenez admitted to striking his wife multiple times in front of the children. According to the incident report of a sheriff’s deputy, Jimenez boasted to a deputy several times that “he would just get out on Monday and ‘Beat my wife’s ass again.’”

After entering his guilty plea to simple battery (family violence) and cruelty to children in the third degree on Feb. 23, 2010, Jimenez was taken into custody by federal immigration officials, who deported him to Mexico in April. The cruelty to children charge stemmed from the fact that Jimenez committed the assault in front of the children.

Unlike many Hispanic victims of domestic violence, Liliana Ruiz cooperated with court officials prosecuting her husband in Fayette County State Court, according to Victim Witness Advocate LaVerne Barela of the county solicitor’s office. When her husband pled guilty and was sentenced by the court, Ruiz was present, Barela said.

Jimenez, who had remained in jail since his initial arrest, was sentenced Feb. 23 to time served plus 10 more days in jail along with two years of probation and a $300 fine. He also was ordered to complete a family violence intervention program, submit to a substance abuse evaluation and avoid consuming alcohol. He was also ordered to not possess any firearms, submit to drug testing and commit no further violence.

According to court documents filed in June 2010, in the three-plus months since entering his guilty plea, Jimenez failed to participate in the family violence intervention program, complete the substance abuse evaluation, and failed to report to his probation officer or pay his fines.

A warrant for Jimenez’s arrest was issued by the court in June, but it is not immediately known whether he had been deported or whether he had somehow returned to Fayette County by that time.