Man accused of choking ex had warned he’d ‘bathe in her blood,’ Arizona officials say
A man accused of pistol-whipping and choking his ex-wife following an unsettling warning has been sentenced to prison, Arizona prosecutors say.
Eric Pastrano, 49, was sentenced to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of five felonies stemming from two domestic violence incidents in 2023, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office said in an Oct. 19 news release.
Pastrano is accused of leaving his ex-wife a voicemail, saying he would “bathe in her blood,” along with “numerous text messages threatening her life,” on April 2, 2023, prosecutors said.
That same day, he went to her Phoenix home, according to prosecutors.
At the time, his ex-wife’s daughter and granddaughter were at the home and called police as they hid in the bathroom, prosecutors said.
Pastrano left when he saw his ex-wife had a firearm, prosecutors said.
A little more than a month later, Pastrano is accused of returning to his ex-wife’s home at about midnight on May 9, 2023.
While wearing a ski mask and body armor, he broke in through the home’s back door with a gun, according to prosecutors.
He fired a round through his ex-wife’s bedroom door, narrowly missing her, prosecutors said.
“Once inside her bedroom, he pistol whipped and choke(d) her until she passed out,” prosecutors said.
Prior to these incidents, Pastrano had three additional felony convictions, “including an aggravated assault against his ex-wife,” prosecutors said.
“Living in fear for your life is no way to live,” Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said in the release. “The relief that this sentencing brings to this victim—in knowing that her perpetrator will never leave prison— is the best outcome for our office.”
This story was originally published October 21, 2024 at 2:43 PM with the headline "Man accused of choking ex had warned he’d ‘bathe in her blood,’ Arizona officials say."
