Maria Liliana Vanegas Parra’s death was one of three severe partner-violence incidents reported in the city within about a week.
SAN JOSE, Calif. — In San Jose authorities investigated the killing of a woman who police say used her last opportunity to speak with officers to identify her estranged husband as the person who attacked her.
The June 11 death of Maria Liliana Vanegas Parra, 45, became the central case in a public warning from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office about the persistence of lethal violence between current or former partners. Prosecutors charged her husband, Pablo Aguileramora, 46, with murder while he was already facing accusations that he had stalked her. Four days later, authorities opened an unrelated homicide case involving another estranged couple.
The district attorney’s office said the two deaths were San Jose’s third and fourth domestic violence homicides of 2026. It compared that number with five such killings throughout Santa Clara County in 2025. Prosecutors also pointed to a June 8 shooting at a Kaiser Permanente medical office in south San Jose, where a woman was critically injured and a man died. Investigators believed that shooting was a domestic violence-related murder-suicide attempt.
The three incidents were not connected by investigators, and the people charged in the two homicide cases must be treated separately. Their proximity in time, however, led officials to present them as evidence of a broader public-safety problem. District Attorney Jeff Rosen said domestic violence remained among the most lethal forms of violence faced by the community and pledged continued efforts to protect victims and prosecute suspected abusers.
Vanegas Parra’s case stood out because authorities had intervened before her death. Aguileramora was arrested March 18 on allegations of stalking her. Prosecutors said he appeared at her workplace, church and home, damaged her car tires, placed three electronic tracking devices in her vehicle and sent more than 100 text messages and voice messages. He also allegedly tried to get a job at the company where she worked.
Following that arrest, an emergency protection order was served. Aguileramora was released while the stalking case remained pending, with conditions that included a GPS ankle monitor, a no-contact order and a requirement that he remain at least 300 yards from Vanegas Parra’s home and workplace. The existence of those safeguards has added urgency to questions about how the alleged fatal contact occurred, though no agency has publicly announced that the monitoring system or court process failed.
Just before midnight June 11, police received a witness’s 911 call from an apartment complex on Descanso Drive. Officers found Vanegas Parra with multiple stab wounds and attempted emergency care. They also found Aguileramora wounded. Authorities said his injury was self-inflicted. Both were transported to a hospital, where Vanegas Parra died. Aguileramora was later released from medical care into custody.
Before she was transported, Vanegas Parra told patrol officers that Aguileramora had stabbed her, according to court documents quoted in news reports. The district attorney’s office said she identified him before her death. Prosecutors have presented that statement as part of the case against him, but it has not yet been tested at trial. Aguileramora is presumed innocent unless the government proves the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.
Authorities said he also threatened the witness who called for help. They have not released a complete account of the confrontation, explained how he allegedly entered the apartment or disclosed whether the GPS device recorded his movements. Those details could become important as prosecutors try to establish a timeline and the defense examines whether the physical and electronic evidence supports the government’s version.
The second homicide cited by prosecutors occurred June 15 in the Snell Avenue area. Shede Mao, 55, was accused of killing his 49-year-old wife in their home. A friend contacted police after receiving a message and an image from Mao, according to the district attorney’s office. Officers found the woman dead and arrested Mao. That case is separate from the prosecution of Aguileramora, and neither defendant’s guilt has been established.
By discussing both killings in the same public announcement, prosecutors placed individual criminal charges beside a statistical warning. That approach can show the scale of the concern, but each courtroom will focus on distinct evidence. Aguileramora’s proceeding is expected to involve the prior stalking accusations, Vanegas Parra’s statement to police, the witness account, medical findings and any location or digital records investigators obtained. Mao’s case involves a different home, timeline and body of evidence.
The district attorney’s office said domestic violence deaths have remained at historically high levels nationally even as many other homicide categories have declined. A San Francisco Chronicle report, citing California Department of Justice data, said domestic violence-related killings increased statewide among homicides with known circumstances while overall homicides fell. The local cases do not by themselves establish a long-term trend, but they illustrate why officials say declines in total violence can conceal danger within intimate relationships.
Vanegas Parra’s reported history with Aguileramora also shows how stalking allegations can overlap with domestic violence cases. Court documents said she had seen him on a rear patio and on a bench calling her name. The alleged trackers and repeated messages suggested an effort to monitor or maintain contact across physical and digital spaces. Prosecutors have not publicly disclosed the content of the communications, and the stalking allegations remain unresolved.
Her family and community later identified her publicly after the district attorney’s first announcement omitted her name. Relatives described her as a Colombian mother with a joyful manner and plans for the future. A fundraiser was organized to help send her remains to Colombia. Those accounts shifted some public attention from the accused man’s conduct to the life and family disrupted by the killing.
Local officials have not announced new legislation, monitoring rules or release procedures in response to the June cases. The public record also does not show whether the court received allegations that Aguileramora violated the order after his March release. Without that information, it would be premature to assign responsibility for any missed warning. What is established is that an earlier stalking case was active when Vanegas Parra was killed.
Public reporting says he is represented by a public defender, but no detailed response to the prosecution’s allegations was available. Aguileramora faces life in prison if convicted of murder. Law&Crime reported that a plea hearing was scheduled for late August. The court will ultimately consider his case on its own evidence, even as Vanegas Parra’s death remains part of a wider debate over repeated domestic violence in San Jose.
Author note: Last updated July 18, 2026.