Share and Follow
Left inset: Pedro Grajales (Hartford Police Department). Right inset: Nilda Rivera (WTIC). Background: The McDonald’s in Hartford, Conn., that Pedro Grajales took Nilda Rivera to before stabbing her 25 times in a parking lot (Google Maps).
A Connecticut man, described as “very jealous,” faces a lengthy prison sentence after fatally stabbing his girlfriend in his vehicle more than 25 times due to suspicions of infidelity, as revealed by court documents.
Pedro Grajales, 55, from Hartford, received a 30-year prison sentence last Wednesday following his guilty plea to murder charges last December, according to court records accessed by Law&Crime.
According to an arrest warrant obtained by local news outlets WTIC and CT Insider, Grajales took his girlfriend, Nilda Rivera, 57, from New Britain, to McDonald’s for what would be their last meal together. He then drove her to a parking lot and murdered her in April 2023.
After the incident, Grajales transported Rivera’s body to a nearby police station and confessed, admitting he had been “planning to murder her for several days” due to his belief that she was unfaithful.
The warrant detailed how Grajales feigned kindness to Rivera, concealing his intentions by hiding a knife in his pants pocket before their outing to the McDonald’s on Brainard Road in Hartford.
The couple ordered from the drive-thru and then Grajales let Rivera eat her food in the McDonald’s parking lot before driving her to a secluded lot nearby. Grajales pretended he needed to grab some lumber, and acted as if he was getting out of the car to grab it before attacking Rivera.
“[Grajales] moved his seat all the way back so he could have enough room to swing the knife,” his arrest warrant said. “Grajales removed the knife from his left pocket and began stabbing [Rivera] multiple times as she sat in the front passenger seat.”
Grajales told police that he “watched” as Rivera “gasped for air” and “waited for her to die” before driving her lifeless body to the Hartford Police Department to report what happened, according to the warrant.
Rivera’s family told WTIC after the slaying that Grajales was “very jealous” and “would look in her phone and delete stuff and go on her social media and delete people,” the station reported in April 2023.
“My mom was just looking for love,” said Daniella Valle, Rivera’s daughter. “She was a mother. She was a grandmother. She was a friend.”