Arnoldo Jimenez, 43, spent over a decade on the run, and became one of the FBI’s ‘Most Wanted Fugitives’ after stabbing his bride Estrella Carrera on their wedding day – while she was still wearing her bridal gown
Many women believe that their wedding day will be one of the happiest of their lives – but for 26-year-old Estrella Carrera, it was the day hers was brutally cut short.
She was discovered two days later in her dry bathtub, still wearing the silver, sequinned cocktail dress she had worn for her wedding ceremony, having been stabbed to death.
Something was off even before Estrella Carrera and her on-and-off-again boyfriend, Arnoldo Jimenez, then 30, decided on the spur of the moment to tie the knot.
Estrella told only her father the day before she was due to get married, but no other family members knew that she was about to make such a major life decision until the day itself, when they were invited to a party to celebrate the couple’s marriage.
Her cousins told the Chicago Tribune at the time: “This just happened out of nowhere. It was so fast I couldn’t even make to the celebration.”
Another cousin added that Estrella “didn’t want to tell me she had gotten married. She didn’t tell anybody besides her father the day before”.
Arnoldo and Estrella shared one child, a little boy who was two when they tied the knot in 2012, and she had a daughter from a previous relationship as well, who was nine years old at the time.
He was alleged by Estrella’s family to be “very possessive” and to become easily jealous, and her sister Jazmine claimed he had previously been violent with Estrella – leading them to disapprove of the romance.
Their turbulent relationship had lasted about three years when they decided, seemingly at the last moment, to get married. After the ceremony on 11 May at Chicago City Hall, the couple invited their family and pals to join them for a celebratory dinner, before splurging on a limousine to travel to a nightclub in the North Side.
The couple left at about 4am to go home – and Estrella was never seen alive again.
Driving in Arnoldo’s black 2006 Maserati, the couple is thought to have got into a serious argument. Arnoldo is alleged to have stabbed Estrella multiple times before dragging her inside her apartment and dumping her body in the bath.
Eventually, Estrella’s family became worried, with the new bride failing to come to collect her two young children, who had been staying with them. Initially, they are said to have gone to straight to Estrella’s home, but had no answer.
They then called the authorities and asked police to conduct a wellness check, which saw Estrella’s body finally discovered in her home at 3.30pm on 13 May – which had no sign of forced entry.
Arnoldo is reported to have called his sister crying the night that he killed Estrella, saying that he – who stands at 6 feet tall and weighed 220lbs – had left his new wife bleeding, after a “bad fight”.
Arnoldo’s brother, Humberto Jimenez, was under investigation for drug dealing at the time of Estrella’s murder, so federal agents had been listening in on his phone calls. Humberto was heard, the day that his new sister-in-law’s body was found, telling someone “there’s been an emergency” and referring to a “huge problem” – per the Chicago Tribune.
Not only that, but during a search of his home related to drug dealing, Arnoldo’s luxury car was found partially hidden – though it showed signs someone had attempted to clean it and cover up evidence, there was still a “plethora” of material for the investigators to use in their case against Arnoldo.
Despite discovering the car, Arnoldo himself was nowhere to be found. With his parents living in Mexico, it was long suspected that he had fled Illinois and gone there to hide from the consequences of his actions.
However, it would be nearly 13 years before he was ever captured. Arnoldo spent over a decade on the run before being arrested in Monterrey, Mexico on January 30 2025.
He has been charged with first-degree murder and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, and he has been held in custody in Mexico until he is extradited back to the US.
Arnoldo made the ‘Most Wanted’ list in 2019, and there was a £250,000 award on his head