Overview
- Stephen Anthony Demora, 62, has been charged with one felony count of murder and a knife-use enhancement, prosecutors said.
- Deputies were dispatched around 6:30 a.m. on Feb. 14 after a woman reported her brother-in-law called to say he had killed his wife with a knife.
- Responding deputies found Debora Jean Demora, 59, fatally stabbed in the garage of the Laurelwood Lane home and saw Stephen Demora exiting with blood on him.
- The district attorney’s office says Demora believed his estranged wife had a date during the Valentine’s Day weekend; the couple had been married 30 years and estranged for the last 10 while living together.
- Demora was treated for self-inflicted injuries before booking and is held in Orange County Jail on $1 million bail, with a March 26 arraignment at the Harbor Justice Center and a potential maximum sentence of 26 years to life if convicted.