Teacher Love Triangle Turns Deadly As Sixto Balbuena Stabs Samuel Valdivia Over Tamara Hofmann (Pictures)

Posted on April 15, 2009

Tamara Hofmann, 48, of Arizona’s Tempe’s Marcos de Niza high school is in the middle of an apparent love triangle with two young students, Sixto Balbuena and Samuel Valdivia, that ended in murder. Read more on this story below.

Court records state that Sixto Balbuena, 20, arrived unexpectedly at the home of his “girlfriend,” teacher Tamara Hofmann this past Friday. Balbuena let himself in and saw Hofmann naked and 18-year-old Samuel Valdivia, beside her in boxer shorts.

Samuel Valdivia was a student of Hofman’s at El Dorado, an alternative high school in Chandler. And Balbuena, a sailor who lives in El Centro, was a former student of Hofmann’s when she taught at Marcos.

Sixto Balbuena said he didn’t mean to stab Valdivia so hard, he later told police. He just wanted to teach him a lesson. But the knife slipped into Valdivia “like going into butter.” Balbuena admitted he attacked Hofmann, throwing her to the floor and demanding to know how long she’d been cheating on him.

Balbuena called 911 himself and waited at the house for police to pick him up.

Police want Balbuena, who’s being held in jail on a $100,000 bond, charged with murder.

But this horrific incident makes you question if Hofmann had a relationship with either of these two guys before they turned 18?

The question “definitely has not been overlooked” by detectives, says Sergeant Joe Favazzo of the Chandler police.

If evidence came up that a relationship with minors occurred, police could act on that, he says. But Favazzo added that such a thing might be tough to prove, at this late date.

“Unfortunately, one person is dead — we can’t interview that person,” he says.

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