The man accused of killing his significant other in their E. Seventh Street home last week has been transferred from St. Luke’s Hospital to Northampton County Prison in Easton, Bethlehem police said today.
Luis Alberto Montero, 41, of Jackson Heights, N.Y. is charged with criminal homicide in the , 38, of 1501 E. Seventh St. There is no bail in homicide cases in Pennsylvania.
According to court papers, Montero shot Reyes several times in her home on Tuesday, firing the last several shots into her body after she dove between a bed and a dresser in one of her sons’ bedrooms as two of the boys watched. Reyes died at the scene.
Montero then turned the gun on himself, firing a single shot into his chest, but that shot only wounded him. He was released from the hospital on Sunday where he had been under police guard.
He was then arraigned by video conference on Sunday night in front of a duty judge, police said.
The court record so far paints a picture of a man who was despondent and angry because he discovered that Reyes, his paramour and the mother of his three sons, had been cheating on him.
Police have found at least two suicide notes, written by Montero, since the shooting. When police visited him at his hospital bed on Wednesday, he told detectives: “Just kill me, man. I don’t want to live. Just shoot me,” according to the arrest warrant.
“I shot her because I was angry,” he told police. He said he was not sure how many times he fired his gun.
The two boys who still live at home told police they heard arguing before the shots rang out. Reyes then ran into the older boy’s room where the two of them were talking.
After Montero fired the shot into his own chest and fell to the ground, court papers say, the older boy took the gun away from him. Montero said to him: “Shoot me. Kill me.” “No,” the son, 18, responded. He and his younger brother then ran outside to call police.
According to the court record, Montero threw a letter at his son, which read: “I luv you guys so much, sorry for everything for leaving this way. My last wish is for my body to be cremated and for the boys to do as they wish with the ashes.”
A few days later, another note was found on the keyboard at his office in Clifton, N.J., according to court papers.
It read: “Today is a sad day for all of us. I found ur mom old phone and unlocked it and found out she had been cheating on me. My last wish is what I have to leave it to (his three sons). My body please have it cremated and do with my ashes whatever. I luv you guys and goodbye.”
Northampton County Coroner Zach Lysek has determined that the cause of Reyes’ death was multiple gunshot wounds. An autopsy was still pending.
