Hawaii Soldier Has Pleaded Not Guilty To Murder In The Death Of His Wife

HONOLULU — In military court on Thursday, a soldier from Hawaii pleaded not guilty to first-degree premeditated murder in the beating and stabbing death of his wife in January.

According to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Spc. Raul Hernandez Perez also pleaded not guilty to defying a noncommissioned officer’s order that he has no communication with his wife.

Hernandez Perez, 23, works for the 500th Military Intelligence Brigade as a signals intelligence analyst.

The date of his trial has been scheduled for Nov. 8.

According to Army prosecutors, the couple was going through a divorce that Hernandez Perez instigated in order to reunite with a high school lover in Florida.

Hernandez Perez, according to military prosecutors, took out a $100,000 life insurance policy on his wife, Selena Roth, on Dec. 15. On Jan. 10, Hernandez Perez went to Roth’s house and Googled how many swings it takes to murder someone with a bat, then battered and stabbed her to death.

Her corpse was discovered outside the residence on Schofield Barracks on Jan. 13 put in an outside garbage can.

Hernandez Perez allegedly hit her on the back of her head with a several-foot-long piece of wood and stabbed her four times in the back with a kitchen knife, according to prosecutors.