Deputies kill man wanted in fatal stabbing of wife

ALPINE â€”  The man wanted by San Diego police in connection with the stabbing death of his wife was shot and killed Monday night in Alpine by sheriff’s deputies who said he threatened them and refused orders to put down a shovel.

Marquin Anthony Hendrix, 61, died about 7:45 p.m. Monday, the Medical Examiner’s Office said Tuesday. The body of his wife, Caridad Aguilar Hendrix, was found shortly before 6 a.m. Monday in a bedroom of their Serra Mesa home on Monette Drive near Ronda Avenue.

San Diego police said Marquin Hendrix went to a brother’s house and told him about the stabbing before fleeing.

Investigators were called to Alpine about 6 p.m. Monday after Hendrix’s maroon 2004 Chrysler Crossfire was spotted off the side of a rural hillside north of Dehesa Road, said sheriff’s homicide Lt. Dennis Brugos.

Someone called to say they saw a flashing light and thought it might be coming from a hiker in distress, Brugos said.

A sheriff’s sergeant and a deputy found that the light was coming from a car at the bottom of a steep hill. A check determined that it was connected to the homicide investigation.

Joined by two other deputies, they began to search for the car’s driver, Brugos said. Police had described Hendrix as being armed and dangerous.

Deputies found the suspect in a separate enclosed carport on Hawks Vista Lane, off Tavern Road, about 2 miles south of Interstate 8. Authorities have not said why Hendrix might have been in the area.

Hendrix rapidly advanced on the deputies with a raised shovel and refused repeated orders to put it down, Brugos said. The deputies fired their weapons an unknown number of times, and Hendrix was shot. He was given first aid and paramedics were called, but he died at the scene, Brugos said.

In May 2007, Marquin Hendrix was charged with one count of possession of a controlled substance, carrying a concealed dirk or dagger and possession of narcotics paraphernalia, according to court records.

He pleaded guilty to the possession charge and after completing a drug-treatment program the plea was set aside and the count was dismissed in June 2009.

Bruce Bennett was Caridad Hendrix’s landlord at a North Park apartment where she moved in 2002 and lived before moving to Serra Mesa. She had married Marquin Hendrix last year, Bennett said.

“She was really nice,� Bennett said. He said that Hendrix had lived by herself and was quiet and kept a spotless apartment.

San Diego police have not said if they know what motivated the attack on Monday.

Court records show that in 2002 Caridad Massie requested a restraining order against a former boyfriend after he barged into her apartment while drunk and refused to leave.

She tried to lock herself in the bedroom, but he got in the room and sexually assaulted her, beat her and choked her, until she almost lost consciousness, according to the court records. She said she suffered bruising, a split lip and a black eye. He restrained her in bed all night and he left in the morning. She said she feared for her life. A restraining order was granted for three years.

Staff writers Dana Littlefield, Kristina Davis and Hailey Persinger contributed to this report.

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