LOUDON COUNTY, Tenn. — District Attorney General Russell Johnson said Wednesday that a man pleaded guilty to a 2022 Loudon County stabbing case. In a release, he said Eric Giovanni Santano-Lopez pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing his roommate during a physical altercation that followed an argument.
According to Johnson, on the evening of Sept. 22, 2022, Daniel Cisneros was in an argument with his roommate Santano-Lopez, over Santano-Lopez's illegal drug use. Johnson said Santano-Lopez was unwilling to pay his portion of the rent on the house in Loudon County.
"Cisneros was on his phone talking to his wife who was still living back at the Cisneros home in the Guanajuato region of Mexico," Johnson said. "While Cisneros was still talking with his wife, the heated argument between Cisneros and Santano-Lopez became physical."
Santano-Lopez grabbed a knife and stabbed Cisneros multiple times. Johnson said Cisnero's wife was still on the phone listening to the altercation. He was still able to talk to his wife about the altercation as he was suffering from his stab wounds.
"Santano-Lopez actually made the call to 911, but dispatch had to elicit the assistance of Lenoir City Police Department Officer Christian Dragon, who is a native Spanish speaker having grown up in Ecuador, to interpret the call," Johnson said.
On the 911 call, Santano-Lopez claimed self-defense. He also had what appeared to be a knife cut near his ear and his hand, according to Johnson. Cisneros was found slumped over a chair in the kitchen, and his body was taken to a forensic center. There, authorities said he died from blood loss.
Johnson said the case was originally charged by the Loudon County Sheriff's Office as first-degree murder. However, after the preliminary hearing, the Loudon County General Sessions Judge bound the case over to a Loudon County grand jury on voluntary manslaughter.
"At the grand jury presentation, the Loudon County Grand Jury indicted the case as First Degree Murder," Johnson said.
Santano-Lopez pleaded guilty Tuesday to voluntary manslaughter as a Range II offender for an increased sentence of 10 years, Johnson said.
"Cisneros’s wife was present in the courtroom for the plea," Johnson said. "She addressed Santano-Lopez in her victim impact statement, expressing the effect Cisneros’s murder had on their family."
Johnson said Santano-Lopez has been in custody at the Loudon County Jail since his arrest and has also tried to harm himself multiple times while in confinement, causing delays. He also said while Cisneros was in the U.S. from Mexico on a visa, Santano-Lopez was not in the country legally. He said he would most likely be deported after serving his sentence.