The morning of November 26, 2011, shattered the quiet of a Daly City, California apartment complex with a scene of pure horror. A maintenance worker looked on, stunned, as a man, wearing only his boxer shorts, ran screaming into the parking lot. He was being pursued by a woman, and his desperate cries for help echoed through the air: “Stay away from me! Go away!” The worker bravely intervened, shielding the man and calling 911.

The man, whose body was covered in horrific blisters and burns, was rushed to the hospital. Before being sedated, he managed to tell doctors who had done this to him: his ex-wife, Jesusa Tatad. This was the tragic culmination of a deeply fractured American dream, a story of broken promises, infidelity, and an act of vengeance so brutal it shocked a community.

The victim was identified as Ronnie Tatad, a 36-year-old nurse from Catanduanes, Philippines. Like many immigrants, he and Jesusa had come to America in search of a better life. They met in the U.S., had a civil wedding, and soon welcomed two children.

However, the financial pressures of raising a family in California proved to be immense. In a heart-wrenching decision, they sent their two young children back to the Philippines to be cared for by Ronnie’s family, while they continued to work and save money. To further cut costs, they shared an apartment with Ronnie’s brother and sister-in-law.

But the financial strain was mirrored by a deep emotional strain in their marriage. According to prosecutors, the relationship was fraught with conflict, with claims that Jesusa was quarrelsome and materialistic. The constant fighting eventually led to their divorce in 2007.

In a bizarre and ultimately tragic arrangement, however, they decided to continue living in the same apartment for economic reasons. They were divorced on paper, sleeping in separate rooms, but still sharing a home, bound by their shared goal of one day reuniting with their children.

For a time, this strange cohabitation seemed to work. They maintained an amicable friendship, and both continued to send money to support their children in the Philippines. But according to Jesusa’s defense, the lines of their relationship once again became blurred.

She claimed they had rekindled a physical relationship, and that Ronnie had made promises to remarry her and finally bring their children back to America. She clung to this hope, believing in the old adage that “love is sweeter the second time around.”

But Ronnie’s promises were allegedly empty. He continued to see other women, a fact that tormented Jesusa. The breaking point came just two weeks before the fatal attack. Ronnie’s sister-in-law testified that she was startled by a hysterical, screaming Jesusa.

She had just caught Ronnie with another woman in his bedroom. The family managed to de-escalate the situation, but the damage was done. For Jesusa, it was the ultimate betrayal, the final confirmation that Ronnie’s promises were lies.

In the early hours of November 26, 2011, while Ronnie slept soundly after a night shift, Jesusa’s heartbreak curdled into a cold, calculated rage. According to the prosecution’s account of that morning, she went to the kitchen, filled a large pot with water, and placed it on the stove to boil. She waited patiently.

Once the water was at a rolling boil, she carefully carried the pot to Ronnie’s room. In one swift, horrific motion, she pulled back his blanket and poured the scalding water all over his sleeping body.

Ronnie awoke in unimaginable agony, his skin instantly blistering. He leaped from the bed and tried to run to the bathroom to douse himself in cold water, but Jesusa allegedly blocked his path, striking him with a baseball bat. His only escape was to flee the apartment, which led to the horrifying scene witnessed by the maintenance worker.

At San Francisco General Hospital, doctors determined that Ronnie had suffered severe burns to over 60% of his body. For two agonizing weeks, he fought for his life, while his family, who had rushed from Ohio and other parts of California, kept a vigil by his bedside. But the damage was too severe. On December 9, 2011, Ronnie Tatad succumbed to a massive blood infection caused by his burns.

Jesusa Tatad was immediately arrested and charged with murder. During the trial, her defense team portrayed her as a victim of abuse and manipulation, a woman who had been repeatedly lied to and cheated on. But the prosecution painted a picture of a cold, vengeful killer.

The prosecutor argued that Jesusa had several minutes while the water was boiling to reconsider her actions, but instead, she chose to follow through with her deadly plan. The closing arguments were powerful, stating that Jesusa was a murderer whose jealousy and selfishness had driven her to an act of unspeakable cruelty.

Ronnie’s sister, Lilibeth, gave a heart-wrenching testimony, telling the court that she had developed a phobia of boiling water since her brother’s death, unable to even stand near a stove. She looked directly at Jesusa and called her an “evil person,” begging the jury to deliver justice.

In April 2013, faced with the overwhelming evidence, Jesusa Tatad accepted a plea deal, changing her plea from “not guilty” to “no contest” for second-degree murder. The judge, in his sentencing, called it one of the most horrific cases he had ever presided over, stating that while Ronnie had wronged her, she had no right to take the law into her own hands. He sentenced her to the maximum penalty for second-degree murder: 16 years to life in prison, with no possibility of parole.

The verdict brought a measure of justice to Ronnie’s grieving family, but the tragedy left behind an irreparable wake of destruction. Two children in the Philippines were left without a father and, for all intents and purposes, without a mother. A story that began with the hope of an American dream ended in a prison cell, a grave, and a lifetime of pain for all involved.