Police: Boy died trying to save sisters

When a Dodge Center man went on a murderous rampage, his son intervened, giving his younger siblings a chance to escape, murder charges say.

By CHAO XIONG, Star Tribune

Last update: November 13, 2008 - 5:57 AM

A 12-year-old Dodge Center, Minn., boy who collapsed and died after being gravely wounded by his knife-wielding father may have saved his sisters' lives according to charges filed Wednesday.

By wresting the knife from his father and fighting back, Ismael Nicholas Bugarin gave the girls time to flee to the home of neighbors.

The boy stabbed his father, also named Ismael, twice in the back after the elder Bugarin had shot and stabbed his wife, Teresa, to death Saturday because she had decided to leave with the children and seek a divorce, the charges said. He had also stabbed Nick's sisters, Jasmine, 8, and Sabrina, 6, the charges say.

Bugarin, 33, was charged in Dodge County District Court with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree attempted murder.

The family had returned from an outing to their home in the Valley View Mobile Home Park in Dodge Center about 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The couple started quarreling, and Teresa decided to leave, according to the criminal complaint.

The charges give this account: When the children heard Teresa scream for help, they ran to the back of the home, where they saw their father pinning their mother on the ground. Bugarin then shot his wife. The bullet grazed her wrist, penetrated her neck and partially severed her spinal column. She had been stabbed first, suffering defensive knife wounds to her hands and arms, a deep stab wound to her chest and six injuries to her neck.

The children tried to flee, but Bugarin pursued them. He slashed one daughter's left face and neck area. He stabbed his son, known as Nicholas or Nick, in the neck. Then he stabbed his other daughter under the chin, repeatedly saying, "I'm sorry," according to the charges.

At some point, Nicholas took the knife from his father and stabbed him twice in the back. The boy and his sisters were then able to run to a neighbor's house for help.

There, Nicholas collapsed and bled to death.

Bugarin followed his children out of the house, but then went back in and slashed his wrists, according to the complaint.

Jasmine and Sabrina Bugarin were released Tuesday from St. Marys Hospital in Rochester.

Friends described Nicholas as an outgoing boy who was a football and soccer fan. He was a seventh-grader at Triton Middle School in West Concord. His mother was a Spanish translator for the county courts and worked as a hairstylist out of her home.

Ismael Bugarin was employed at McNelius, a truck manufacturing company. In the late 1990s, he was arrested at least twice on allegations of domestic assault.

Visitation for Teresa and Nicholas will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. today at Holy Family Catholic Church in Kasson, Minn. Services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at the church.

Chao Xiong • 612-673-4391