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Man Accused of Throwing Wife Off Bridge: Fort Worth Police

Police suspect the 28-year-old was alive when she was thrown from the Lake Worth bridge

The estranged husband of a woman whose body was pulled from a North Texas lake earlier this month has been arrested in her death.

Rodolfo Arellano, 31, was arrested on a capital murder warrant Tuesday.

Fort Worth police Sgt. Joe Loughman said investigators are awaiting an official ruling on the cause of Elizabeth Pule Arellano's death but suspect the 28-year-old was alive when thrown from the Lake Worth bridge.

The incident in the early morning hours of April 16 was originally reported and investigated as a possible suicide. Now detectives say it's a kidnapping and murder.

Loughman said the woman had recently separated from her husband. They have a 10-year-old daughter, and three sons, ages 4, 7 and 12.

Detectives charged Rodolfo Arellano with murder on Tuesday, but it wasn't until Wednesday afternoon that other family members broke the news to their four children.

Elizabeth Arellano worked as a medical assistant at a North Richland Hills ENT office, family members say. She'd been together with Rodolfo Arellano for 12 years.

The two were separated and Elizabeth Arellano had moved out of their house about a week before her death. Family members say she was celebrating happy hour that night with a group of girlfriends, shortly before police say Rodolfo Arellano kidnapped her.

Police say Rodolfo Arellano took Elizabeth Arellano to the Interstate 820 bridge over Lake Worth and threw her over. Police believe she was alive at that time and the fall caused her death, but they say they can't be certain until the medical examiner releases his report.

"She was a lovely, lovely mother. I want to say a lovely daughter too; she was basically my daughter. She had the ultimate respect for me, as I did for her," said Fidel Galvan, the victim's step-father.

Detectives asked anyone who observed suspicious activity between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. April 16 to call them at 817-392-4337 or Crime Stoppers at 817-469-8477 (TIPS).

Rodolfo Arellano was being held in the Mansfield jail Wednesday with bail set at $500,000. Jail records did not list an attorney for him.

NBC 5's Todd L. Davis contributed to this report.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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