Case # 13ZF0164
Date: September 18, 2015
FORMER OC PROBATION OFFICER SENTENCED TO 26 YEARS TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR STABBING-MURDER OF HIS WIFE BEFORE THEIR ANNIVERSARY
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A former Orange County Probation Department officer was sentenced today to 26 years to life in state prison for stabbing and murdering his wife several days before their first wedding anniversary. Nelson Tuumamao Tuiolosega, 59, Huntington Beach, was found guilty by a jury June 9, 2015, of one felony count of first degree murder with a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a knife.
On Oct. 29, 2012, Nelson Tuiolosega and 47-year-old Heather K. Tuiolosega got into a verbal argument in their home in Huntington Beach about the future of their marriage. The victim had told the defendant that she wanted to get a divorce several days before the murder. During the argument, the defendant stabbed the victim multiple times in the neck. The defendant then called several relatives and told those family members that he had committed a crime. Nelson Tuiolosega then stabbed himself in the abdomen in an attempt to commit suicide.
The defendant’s relatives called 911 and paramedics responded to the scene and transported the defendant to the University of California, Irvine Medical Center to be treated for his injuries. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Huntington Beach Police Department investigated this case.
At Nelson Tuiolosega’s sentencing today, pursuant to Marsy’s Law, several family members delivered emotional impact statements to the court. The victim’s son talked about the damage that the defendant had caused and said in part that the defendant “did not break me; he broke only himself.” One of the victim’s brothers, who is a peace officer in a different state, told the court that the crime scene was one of the worst that he has seen in 25 years that he has been in law enforcement. One of the victim’s friends submitted a written impact statement to the court which said in part, “The fact that she is no longer with us is difficult to grasp. The reason why she is no longer with us is incomprehensible. How the defendant could have committed this heinous crime against another human being, especially a loving soul like Heather can only be described as pure evil. He took her life in such a horrific and cowardly way and in doing so, made the world a darker place to live.”
Senior Deputy District Attorney Troy Pino of the Homicide Unit prosecuted this case.