Man Admits To Fatally Stabbing Wife In Jackson Heights Salon: DA

JACKSON HEIGHTS, QUEENS — A man pleaded guilty to charges that he stabbed his wife to death in the Jackson Heights nail salon where she worked, the Queens district attorney's office said Friday.

Corona resident William Rivas, 39, walked into Tu S'tilo Salon and Spa the evening of Aug. 7 and started an argument with his estranged wife, 35-year-old Carmen Iris Santiago, according to prosecutors.

The salon's owner escorted Rivas outside, but he barged back in, pulled out a knife and began stabbing Santiago in the chest, prosecutors said.

Santiago was rushed to the hospital, but she couldn't be saved.

A friend of the victim told the New York Daily News that Rivas and Santiago were married for four years until splitting up earlier this year.

"She said that he was aggressive, and she was a little scared," the friend told the Daily News. "She said she didn't want him to know where she lived."

She is survived by two young sons.

Rivas pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter on Friday and is expected to receive a 25-year prison sentence, prosecutors said.