Stabbed in heart, woman tries to keep hate out of the healing

Lying in the yard of her neighbor's home earlier this month, Hortencia Salas felt a throbbing pain in her hip and sensed that she — and her unborn baby — were still in danger.

Above her stood her boyfriend. Salas said he was being restrained by their neighbor after punching her in the face, causing Salas, who is 5-½ months pregnant, to tumble down a flight of stairs. When the neighbors tried to help Salas into their North Seattle home, her boyfriend lunged forward and thrust a knife into her heart, she said.

"I saw all of the blood and I told my daughter everything was OK and I laid down and I passed out on the couch," recalled Salas, 36.

Police arrived a few minutes later and arrested Carlos Diaz-Galvin, of SeaTac, following the Aug. 16 attack outside the home of Salas' neighbors. He has been charged with first-degree domestic-violence assault, second-degree assault, third-degree assault and fourth-degree child assault.

Doctors at Harborview Medical Center were unsure at first whether Salas and her unborn son would live, Seattle police said. Salas said she underwent open-heart surgery and has permanent stitches in her heart.

The unborn baby boy survived. Salas said he is due on Dec. 14.

Salas said that during the year and a half that she and Diaz-Galvin had dated they had argued but never resorted to physical violence.

On the night of the attack, neighbor Briana Yancey and her parents were up late, glued to Olympics coverage on television, when the fight broke out on their porch. Yancey recalled that Salas' 11-year-old daughter burst into their living room begging for protection.

The Yancey family ran outside and tried to calm Salas' boyfriend down after he had punched the pregnant woman, Briana Yancey said. But as Robert Yancey and his wife, Carol Yancey, tried to help Salas up from their yard, the 24-year-old man wedged himself between the couple and thrust a knife into the pregnant woman's heart, according to Briana Yancey, 31.

"We totally underestimated what he was going to do," she said. "He wasn't in an angry rage."

When he was arrested in connection with Salas' injuries, Diaz-Galvin was wanted by police in connection with a domestic-violence harassment case from January 2007. Diaz-Galvin had pleaded guilty to harassment in July 2007 but failed to show up at his sentencing, leaving the judge to sign an arrest warrant.

In that case, Diaz-Galvin threatened to shoot an ex-girlfriend because she didn't want to reconcile their relationship, according to a King County Sheriff's Office report.

Salas said she was stabbed soon after she returned home from her first day working as a banquet server at Seattle's Arctic Club Hotel. Salas had gone to sleep and when her daughter climbed into bed, Diaz-Galvin ordered the girl to leave and even shoved her, Salas said. The couple then started arguing and the 11-year-old girl ran to the Yanceys' house for help.

Salas said Diaz-Galvin was drunk. Diaz-Galvin ran after the girl and Salas chased him when they reached the Yanceys' porch.

"He turned around and punched me in my face and I went down those steps and I couldn't move," Salas said. "I was scared, I didn't know what was going on. I was worried about the baby, but somehow I landed on my hip. I couldn't get up."

Police said they have linked a utility knife to the stabbing. Briana Yancey said Diaz-Galvin often carried a utility knife.

Salas has since returned home, where she is being cared for by her mother and sister. She doesn't know when she will return to work.

"I'm in shock. I don't understand because I thought we were doing great," Salas said. "The only thing I don't want to keep in my heart is hate. I cannot have those feelings right now. I feel sorry for him [Diaz-Galvin] and at the same time I feel sorry for me."

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com