Gilbert woman sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing husband in 2023

PHOENIX — A Gilbert woman was recently sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing her husband in 2023, according to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.

Ivanka Koleva, 51, killed her husband, Stefan Koleva, shortly before Thanksgiving, prosecutors said.

One of their adult children had flown in to Gilbert to celebrate the holiday and called police for a welfare check after not seeing their father for days.

Police arrived to the home near Guadalupe and Recker roads on Nov. 22, 2023, and found Koleva’s body wrapped in plastic with several gunshot wounds as well as a stab wound, prosecutors said.

Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell referred to the crime as horrific.

“This wasn’t just a murder — it was a betrayal that shattered a family,” Mitchell announced Monday.

Gilbert woman who killed husband acted strangely before murder

The couple’s children told investigators with the Gilbert Police Department that their mother had been acting strangely, even asking them not to go inside the home, prosecutors said.

They also told police she had recently been involved in a car crash they theorized was a suicide attempt.

Police later found the murder weapon in the same vehicle Koleva had been driving while allegedly trying to kill herself.

Police also found evidence Koleva had cleaned the crime scene, hid her husband’s belongings and tried to repair a bullet hole in the bedroom door, prosecutors said.

“These children came home to see their parents and instead discovered a crime scene,” Mitchell said. “No one should ever have to endure that kind of horror, especially at the hands of their own mother.”

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