Man charged with killing pregnant girlfriend, unborn child

Eric Covington told police he thought his estranged girlfriend, Sagittarius Gomez, was going to leave him for good.

She was seven months pregnant, and he couldn't fathom the idea of another man raising his child, he told police.

He said he went to the east valley apartment they once shared on Friday to discuss the state of their relationship. When the talk turned sour, Covington produced a knife and began to stab Gomez, 24, the police report details.

After he decided the knife he brought "wasn't working," he took a butcher knife from a kitchen drawer and continued stabbing her, the report said he told police.

Police on Sunday found Covington, 27, hiding at his parent's house in the northwest valley. He agreed to an interview and admitted killing Gomez, police said. He was arrested and charged with five felonies: murder, burglary, robbery, grand larceny and manslaughter of an unborn child.

Gomez's body was discovered Saturday afternoon by a friend, who was concerned when she missed a scheduled visitation of her two children at Child Protective Services, the report said.

When detectives entered the Villas at Sunrise Mountain apartment, at 6360 E. Sahara Ave., they found Gomez dead on the living room floor, with visible wounds to her neck and abdomen.

They also saw that a flat-screen TV from the bedroom was missing, which Covington later admitted to taking, police said.

Homicide Lt. Lew Roberts said Covington had lived with the victim until recently and had a history of domestic violence. Covington was arrested for domestic battery in October and also had a prior incident.

"Bottom line is there was a history of domestic violence in that relationship," Roberts said.

Covington is not the father of Gomez's two other children, Roberts said.

A neighbor, Darryl, said he did not know Gomez or Covington and did not hear them arguing Friday. He said that Gomez liked to sit on the steps outside her apartment many afternoons and that they'd only had brief conversations.

"Everybody here is pretty quiet and keeps to themselves," said Darryl, who asked to be identified only by his first name. "Nobody would congregate or got to know anybody else, nothing like that."

He said Gomez's family was at the apartment over the weekend .

They were "very distraught" about the stabbing, as anyone would be, he said.

"A lot of sad faces out there," Darryl said. "I lost a son myself, so I know what they're going through. It's a long process, and they've got a tough road ahead."

Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283.