Natalie Ramirez Wanted To Leave Him

Arturo Dota, who has lived in the United States for 11 years and worked for the same landscaping company for eight, killed the mother of his two children because she wanted to leave him, according to arrest warrant application used to charge him with murder.

Dota, 31, was arraigned in Danbury Superior Court Thursday and he didn't say a word. His attorney, Philip Russell, a prominant Greenwich defense lawyer, entered a plea of not guilty and the choice of a jury trial at the arraignment.

Ramirez, 23, had two children, ages 2 and 4. She worked at Even Start in Danbury, a program to help children excel in school. Police and court paperwork said she was stabbed to death Monday before 8:44 p.m. at her Duck Street apartment.

"She went into the kitchen and I could hear her and Arturo talking to each other, but I could not make out what they were saying.... All of the sudden I heard what sounded like a struggle or fight in the kitchen. I went out to the kitchen and I saw Natalie on the floor on her back, and Arturo was kneeling on top of her. Arturo had a knife in his hand and the knife was stuck in Natalie's chest," was the statement Eduardo Quinones gave police at the scene. He also said, "Arturo didn't look like he had been stabbed at all. I had a good look at the front of his body as he was on top of Natalie, who was bleeding a lot."

Dota was taken from the apartment to Danbury Hospital, where he stayed until he was charged with murder Wednesday at about 1:30 p.m. He spent Wednesday night at the Danbury Police Department. Russell, Dota's attorney, was hired by Dota's family to defend him.

Quionones, Natalie's cousin, was visiting the family in Danbury, which included his aunt living elsewhere as well as Natalie. Quinones and the two children of Ramirez and Dota were in the house Monday night at about 8:44 when the stabbing took place.

The four-year-old told police that tonight mommy was crying and screaming and that her father got a knife in the kitchen and cut mommy's head....She said she saw her daddy cutting her mommy's head and her daddy did it slowly, the arrest warrant application said.

The only thing Dota said at the scene was, "She hit me first," the arrest warrant application said. That was similar to what he said in the 911 call that brought police and emergency medical personnel to the apartment Monday night.

Several of Natalie Ramirez's friends appeared in court Thursday, including Ysidra Guerrero, who said she met Natalie and her children at the Danbury Fair mall, because the two families walked into each other.

"For her age, she was the best mother. Everything was for her children. She was dedicated to her children," Guerrero said. "Was she out partying? No. You'd see her at the mall with her children. That was it. No clubs."

Quinones said Ramirez told him on Friday night that she wanted to leave Dota. She told her cousin the relationship was over and Dota wanted then to stay together.