Man fatally stabbed during family argument

Charges pending against victim’s cousin

By Vicky Wedig

Editor

Charges are pending against a Delavan man suspected of stabbing and killing his cousin early Sunday morning.

Rafael Olivarez, 39, is in the Walworth County Jail awaiting charges in connection with the death of his cousin Ivan Guerrero, 31, of Delavan, Police Chief Tim O’Neill said Monday.

Police were called to Guerrero’s home at 509 Lawson School Road at 3:17 a.m. Sunday where Guerrero and Olivarez had been involved in an altercation.

O’Neill said Olivarez and others had been invited to Guerrero’s home for a party, and, over the course of the evening, the cousins had a dispute over something that had happened in the family years ago.

“There were accusations of ‘woulda, shoulda, coulda,’” O’Neill said.

Police have not yet pieced together how long the pair argued before the dispute became physical or where in the condominium the stabbing occurred, he said. O’Neill said indications suggest the dispute took place in more than one room of the condominium, and police have the weapons – two knives – involved in the murder.

A neighbor, Jeff Coblentz, who lives in the Fields of Delavan apartment complex next to the condominiums, said he heard arguing at about 2 a.m. and saw many more vehicles outside the condo than usual. But, he said, he noticed nothing else unusual until he and his family awoke in the morning and saw squad cars and police tape outside.

Guerrero’s wife and five children – four of Guerrero’s and a guest sleeping over – who range in age from 4 to 11 years old, were home at the time of the incident. The wife witnessed the altercation, and the children were sleeping, O’Neill said.

Firefighters roused the children when emergency crews arrived and removed them from the condo through upper windows to prevent them from witnessing the scene, he said.

O’Neill said police are trying to determine whether other people who attended the party were still there when the stabbing occurred. He said evidence indicates alcohol was served at the party, but police don’t know whether Olivarez or Guerrero was intoxicated.

Guerrero was still alive when police arrived. He was pronounced dead a couple of hours after the incident at Mercy Hospital in Janesville, O’Neill said.

An autopsy was being performed Monday that would determine the number of stab wounds Guerrero had and what injury was fatal.

Olivarez had not been charged as of Monday but police do not believe anyone else was involved in the altercation, and the public is not in danger, O’Neill said.

We’re not pursuing anybody else at this point,” he said.

Coblentz said the neighborhood is typically quiet and safe.

The last homicide in Delavan was in June 2007 when seven people were shot – six fatally, including the gunman.