Richland man threatened to send his wife home in a coffin. He’s now in a cell

A Richland man is locked up on $150,000 for allegedly beating his wife and threatening to send her body to her father in a coffin.

Edgar Zafra Gonzalez, 35, was charged Tuesday with five felony counts from a Dec. 7 incident that led to a lockdown of Richland schools until he was found hiding at a motel.

His wife suffered broken bones around her eye and in her nose and at least one broken rib. She also had many bruises on her face and her right eye was almost swollen shut, court documents said.

The mother of three reportedly was holding their 20-month-old daughter during some of the attack. Yolanda Solano was able to get the attention of a passerby and escape when Gonzalez dragged her out of the house to retrieve his loaded gun she had stashed in her car, documents said.

Gonzalez — who also is known as Edgar Solano Zafra — has been locked up in the Benton County jail since his arrest that afternoon at Richland’s Motel 6.

He is charged in Benton County Superior Court with second-degree assault with domestic violence, felony harassment with domestic violence, cocaine possession and two counts of possessing a gun.

The assault charge includes the aggravating circumstance that it happened within sight or sound of the couple’s young child.

His wife told police that Gonzalez accused her of something and been trying for three weeks to get her to confess by slapping her hard.

The abuse started again at 4:30 a.m. that day with Gonzalez threatening to start punching her, court documents said.

He allegedly told her, “You better tell the truth or I am going to disfigure your face. I am going to hit you to the point that you don’t recognize your own face.”

That’s when he claimed he would take photos of his handiwork and send them to her father, followed by her body in a coffin, documents said.

Soon after, Gonzalez allegedly punched his wife in the head, causing her to hit her head on the tub. He helped her up, then punched her in the ribs and the back of the head, court documents said.

He told his wife that plastic surgery would not help her, documents said.

She was able to leave the room when they heard the two older children get up for school. He went with his wife as she drove one child to school, then started arguing and hitting her again after the other child was gone, court documents said.

Gonzalez’s mother called the house during the attack and was told by her son that “he was going to shoot (his wife’s) brains out and if cops showed up, he would shoot her first,” documents said. The crying mother begged her son to let his wife and kids go.

Gonzalez allegedly grabbed a bread knife from the kitchen and threatened to cut her throat and slice off her fingers. She suffered some small cuts on her fingers when she pulled her hand away.

He wanted to know where she hid his gun. That’s when he dragged her outside, intending to get the gun so he could kill her, documents said.

She saw a vehicle down the street, broke free from her husband and flagged down the driver.

Officers arrived at the Smith Avenue home just after 10 a.m. and went inside to rescue the toddler. The girl was not hurt but had her mom’s blood on her clothes.

Gonzalez had left before officers arrived.

All Richland schools were locked down for an hour while police searched the neighborhood. They tracked his cell phone and arrested him at the motel.

Officers found a Taurus .357 Magnum with a 6-inch barrel inside his car’s spare tire compartment. It was loaded with six hollow point bullets.

A .25-caliber semi-automatic pistol was on top of a hutch in the dining room, along with some ammunition, court documents said.

Gonzalez has an out-of-state felony domestic battery conviction that prevents him from owning or possessing firearms legally, said police.

Cocaine and a digital scale were found inside one of his dresser drawers, documents said.

This story was originally published December 12, 2017 at 7:08 PM with the headline "Richland man threatened to send his wife home in a coffin. He’s now in a cell."