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Mother of Bronx Murder Suspect Says Daughter Acted in Self-Defense

By  Eddie Small and Gustavo Solis | March 12, 2015 6:27pm 

 Delvalle declined to testify before a grand jury during her court appearance on Thursday.
Delvalle declined to testify before a grand jury during her court appearance on Thursday.
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DNAinfo/Eddie Small

CONCOURSE — The Bronx woman who stabbed her boyfriend to death Tuesday night told her mother she was defending herself and did not intend to kill him, the mom told DNAinfo New York Thursday.

Kristal Delvalle, 23, who was charged with manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon for fatally stabbing Norbeto Cruz-Valetin, 21, in the chest, was a victim of domestic violence and feared for her life, her mother Laura Gonzalez said.

"She called me from jail and told me, 'Mami, I didn't think I would kill him," Gonzalez said. "She said, 'Mami, I didn't want to do it. I was defending myself."

Cruz-Valentin's family said that the lover's quarrel started when Delvalle thought her boyfriend had texted another woman Tuesday morning when he messaged his boss that he had overslept. The two argued over it and police and family members said she stabbed him in the chest in the afternoon.

Their relationship did not start out contentious, Gonzalez said.

Delvalle and Cruz-Valentin met in Puerto Rico in 2013 and dated for about a year and a half, and although Delvalle's mother said her daughter got along with him at first, the relationship eventually turned sour, and her daughter started coming home with bruises.

"I would ask her, 'How are you in love with someone who treats you like this?'" she said. "You don't know everything I did to try to get her to leave him."

Gonzalez attempted to convince her daughter to come back to her house, and when the couple planned on going to New York together last February, she told her not to do it.

"There, she didn't have any control because she was so far away," she said. "She had no family there."

Although Cruz-Valentin's family tried to break up the couple as well, his stepfather Gary Collins acknowledged that they paid for him and Delvalle to come to the United States. However, he said that they only did so because Cruz-Valentin refused to make the trip by himself.

"He would not come unless he could bring her with him," he said. "He said that if he can't come with her, he's not coming."

The two arrived in New York last winter, where Devalle's mother said the abuse continued.

She tried to leave Cruz-Valentin multiple times and checked into a shelter for battered women on Long Island at one point, but he would always convince her that they should stay together, Gonzalez said.

"He manipulated her," she said. "He threatened to commit suicide so that she wouldn't leave him."

Cruz-Valentin's family adamantly maintained that their son was a good person who did not deceive his girlfriend into staying with him. They claim she stabbed him in a fit of jealousy after she mistakenly thought he was texting another woman. He was actually texting his boss to tell him that he had overslept, his stepfather said.

"The fact of the matter is, she had opportunities to leave numerous times," Collins said, "and she came back on her own free will."

Delvalle did not speak at a court appearance in the Bronx Hall of Justice on Thursday but sobbed occasionally. Her lawyer Lawrence Dubin said she would not testify before a grand jury.

Delvalle had been ordered held without bail at her arraignment on Tuesday, but Dubin argued that she deserved bail at her Thursday appearance, emphasizing that she was not a flight risk and did not have priors.

"She's never been in trouble before," he said. "She's employed full-time. She works in a garment factory as a packer."

The judge denied Dubin's request.

Delvalle is "devastated" by Cruz-Valentin's death, her mother said.

Gonzalez said she's thankful that her daughter is still alive.

"It hurts that a family is suffering for what happened," she said. "I hope something good happens. Something good needs to come out of this."