Here is a picture of teacher Tamara Hofmann and Sixto Balbuena. Now Samuel Valdivia is dead and police investigators want answers.Hofmann was a former math teacher at Marcos de Niza High School, then El Dorado High School. It is at El Dorado that Hofmann met Samuel Valdivia
School officials knew that the 48-year-old teacher in a deadly love triangle with a student and former student had been in a questionable situation with the slaying suspect when he was 17.
She had been disciplined and eventually resigned from Marcos de Niza High School after Chandler police found her parked at 1 a.m. in 2006 with student Sixto Balbuena, now 20, who had her bra in his pocket, according to school records.
Hofmann then went on to teach at El Dorado High School, a Chandler charter school for at-risk students, where she met Samuel Valdivia, an 18-year-old student who police say was slain by Balbuena Friday when he caught the two in bed.The State Board of Education has known since March 2007 about her record with Marcos de Niza and began its own investigation that could have led to Hofmann losing her teaching certificate, but the investigation was put on hold because of Balbuena’s lack of cooperation and the lack of manpower, said Vince Yanez, executive director for the State Board of Education.
On Monday, however, principal Ramona Gonzalez said Hofmann has been suspended from the school since the Friday incident.
Hofmann, who earned a master’s degree in 2003 from ASU with a 4.0 GPA, taught in the Kyrene School District for 10 years before landing a job at Marcos de Niza in 2005. Her resume includes a long list of committees she joined and leadership roles she has taken over the years.
According to a Chandler police report from Nov. 1, 2006, Hofmann and Balbuena were parked in a car on a dark street far from their respective homes when neighbors became suspicious and called police.
Hofmann told police she stopped to empty a leaky ice chest. She also said Balbuena was a family friend and he had her bra because she had changed clothes earlier in the car by herself and later asked him to throw the clothes in the back.
The officer questioned them about whether they had sex, but the officer couldn’t establish any proof, so he wrote a report and forwarded it to the Tempe Union High School District, which took her out of the Marcos de Niza classroom the next day.
Court records show Hofmann has been going through a contentious divorce since December 2007.
Says reports:
According to court documents, Balbuena was on leave from the Navy when he arrived at Hofmann’s home in the 2500 block of West Ironwood Drive about 2 a.m. and called her to let her know he was outside. There was no answer so Balbuena let himself in, heard noises from the bedroom and thought something was wrong. He grabbed a knife from the kitchen and entered the bedroom, where he saw a man run into the bathroom.
Balbuena says he didn’t intend to kill the other man, just cause pain. He is currently in jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.
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