Man arrested, accused of killing ex's boyfriend in Phoenix in order to win her back
A man was arrested on Tuesday and accused of forcing his ex-girlfriend's boyfriend to break up with her and then killing him in an effort "to get her back," court documents say.
According to Phoenix police, at about 10:30 p.m. Monday, officers responded to an apartment complex near East Earll Drive and North Seventh Street for reports of a missing person. Police said the caller told them they had not seen or spoken to their friend, 25-year-old Harry Doan, since Sunday. The friend told police that Doan was in Phoenix for job interviews and staying at that apartment complex, court documents said.
It wasn't immediately clear where Doan was visiting Phoenix from.
Upon arrival at Doan's complex, officers looked through the blinds and saw a man lying face down on the bed. Officers knocked, but the man did not answer, prompting officers to enter the lock code to the door and gain access to the residence.
According to court documents, when officers entered the bedroom, they could see Doan had been fatally injured with multiple gunshot wounds to his head and body.
Detectives ruled out suicide after they were unable to find a weapon, his cellphone or a wallet at the scene. However, an Apple Watch was found sitting on the bedside table and displayed a message from a woman, which turned out to be Doan's girlfriend.
According to court documents, she told police that her ex-boyfriend, 26-year-old Rene Penaloza, had been trying to rekindle his relationship with her and that Penaloza had contacted Doan telling him to stay away from her.
According to court documents, investigators asked her to call Penaloza and confront him about Doan's death, whereupon he admitted to killing him, shooting him in the face three times, because he loved her.
His cellphone location also placed him in the area of Doan's unit on Sunday between the hours of 6:40 and 7:30 p.m., court documents said.
Penaloza told his girlfriend that he had also taken Doan's phone, wallet and anything with his name, throwing them all away in different locations across the Phoenix area, court documents said.
Penaloza was tracked down by police throughout the Phoenix area and, according to court documents, he fled several times when confronted by officers. He was ultimately found and arrested in Tucson on Tuesday with the help of the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
Court documents said that after being arrested, Penaloza told police that on Sunday, he knocked on the door of the apartment where Doan was staying and when he answered the door, Penaloza pointed a gun at him and forced his way into the residence. He then forced Doan to break up with his girlfriend over text, which Doan did. Fearing that Doan would continue to pursue her, Penaloza shot at him three times, successfully hitting Doan in the head on the third try, court documents said.
He also told police that his ex-girlfriend was "treating him better" after having received the breakup text from Doan.
According to court documents, Penaloza told detectives, "It hurts because I had to go to this extent to get her back. It was working too. I took the risk because I wanted to see if I would really get her back. I was right, if I never got caught, then cool. Well, not cool, because I just killed somebody."
Penaloza was booked into a Maricopa County jail on a $1 million bond and is facing multiple charges, including two counts of first-degree murder (one premeditated and the other during the course of a crime), one count of burglary, one count of kidnapping, and one count of armed robbery with a deadly weapon.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Court records: Man kills ex's boyfriend in Phoenix to win her back
