Apple Valley Man Sentenced to 24 Years for Stalking and Assaulting Ex-Wife

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VICTORVILLE – The stalking, threats, and terrorizing of one man’s ex-wife earned him 24 years in prison officials said. On Friday, February 3, 2017, a Rene Vazquez, 45, of Apple Valley was found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon, criminal threats, stalking, dissuading a witness and two counts of felony vandalism.

The most recent incident, landing Vazquez behind bars occurred in 2015, when his ex-wife moved to Victorville from San Diego after leaving him.The victim, Debbie Vazquez had a domestic violence restraining order served on Rene Vazquez, which ignited fury leading to the vandalism of the victim’s garage. The victim then attempted to flee, but the defendant chased her and eventually crashed his vehicle into hers.

“Rene is a violent man and he told me several times how to get rid of a dead body,” the victim, Debbie Vazquez, told the court on Friday. “You burn the hair and feed the body to the pigs. There is no trace left. This haunted me and still does to this day. The thought that I could disappear and never be found.”

After being arrested, the defendant was bailed out and almost immediately began contacting the victim by phone, text and email. Within the contact, the defendant urged the victim to recant her story. “During trial and at Friday’s sentencing, the victim recounted how Vasquez’ prison record and the stories he told her of violence he inflicted on his other victims caused her to be in fear for her life for months, even after he was taken into custody in October 2015,” San Bernardino County District Attorney’s officials said.

Prosecutors were pleased with the sentence which will finally provide the victim with some sense of peace and safety. “I moved into a big apartment complex with a parking garage,” she said Friday. “Every time I pulled out and a car would pull behind me, I would pull over to make sure I was not being followed … I have moved four times in a year and a half. My last move was out of state. I just want to be able to live without fearing for my life. Yet I still do every day.”