Teenage student killed in love triangle involving teacher Tamara HofmannBy Corky Siemaszko
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Updated Wednesday, April 15th 2009, 11:30 AM
wo young men were hot for the same teacher - and both got badly burned.
The love triangle ended in tragedy when 20-year-old Sixto Balbuena found his former high school math teacher, Tamara Hofmann, in bed with a current student - and fatally stabbed his rival, police said.
"The blade went in like going into butter," Balbuena told cops later as he expressed remorse for murdering 18-year-old Samuel Valdivia.
Meanwhile, school officials in Chandler, Az., were under fire for failing to fire a 48-year-old teacher with a track record of allegedly preying on her students.
"It was not given a top priority," Vince Yanez, executive director of the Arizona's state Board of Education, admitted to the East Valley Tribune newspaper.
Hofmann, the temptress in the triangle, has not been charged with a crime but remains under investigation.
Court records obtained by The Associated Press revealed she has been embroiled in a nasty divorce since December 2007.
Valdivia met his end when Balbuena - a sailor on leave - arrived on Hofmann's home early last Friday.
Balbuena let himself in and - hearing noises in the bedroom and fearing something was wrong - grabbed a kitchen knife and went to investigate, police said.
It was there he found Valdivia in his boxers and Hofmann wearing nothing at all, police said.
Furious, Balbuena beat the teenager and hurled a computer printer at him while the cowering Valdivia apologized.
Determined to "teach the victim a lesson," Balbuena stabbed his rival in the lower side with the knife, police said.
Balbuena also beat Hofmann and demanded to know how long she had been cheating on him, police said.
Realizing that Valdivia was mortally wounded, Balbuena called 911 and waited - covered in his rival's blood - for the police to arrive.
The slain teen's mom said she had no idea her son - an aspiring singer - was sleeping with his teacher.
"He was a good boy, a very good boy," Placida Maldonado told the paper.
"Maybe if my son was a pothead or a gangbanger I would've expected something like this, but I can't accept it."
Hofmann has been suspended from the Chandler charter high school where she taught at-risk students.
Two years ago, Hofmann was ousted from the high school in Tempe, Az., where she met Balbuena after cops caught them together in a car parked on a dark street. Her bra was found in Balbuena's pocket.
Hofmann was docked 10 days pay and reassigned to an administrative office while a probe that could have led to the loss of her teaching certificate was launched.
The investigation went nowhere because Balbuena wouldn't testify. Now he sits in jail on $100,000 bond.
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