Suspect Indicted in Fatal DV Stabbings

Aug. 11, 2022 – A Bartlett man who fatally stabbed a woman he had dated and her teenage son after breaking into their Scenic Hills home two weeks ago has been indicted on murder charges, said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich.

Jose Alexis Murillo-Salgado, 42, was indicted on two counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated burglary. He was captured in Arkansas hours later and is in the Shelby County Jail on $2 million bond.

Witnesses said that shortly after 3 a.m. on July 28, 2022, Murillo-Salgado forced his way in at the victims’ home in the 2800 block of North Highland Road near Scenic Highway. He began arguing with Claudia Nunez, 36, who had wanted to end their relationship of several months.

Murillo-Salgado then went into the kitchen, grabbed a butcher knife and stabbed the woman’s 14-year-old son, Kevin Nunez, who had tried to intervene. He also stabbed the boy’s mother several times and then returned to his car and drove away.

Claudia Nunez was pronounced dead at the scene. Kevin Nunez was taken to a hospital where he died a short time later.

Memphis police issued a BOLO alert on Murillo-Salgado and the white Toyota Camry he was driving. Hours after the stabbings, at around 12:30 p.m., a trooper with the Arkansas State Police spotted the suspect on I-30 in Hope, Ark., some 245 miles southwest of Memphis.

The trooper followed Murillo-Salgado when he took an exit to a service station and arrested him on the parking lot without incident. He was picked up Tuesday by the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and brought back to Memphis.

The case is being prosecuted by Asst. Dist. Atty. Cavett Ostner of the District Attorney’s Domestic Violence Unit which handles cases of assault and homicide committed by intimate partners.