Concord Murder Suspect Out On Bail Prior To Second, Fatal Attack On Wife

A 40-year-old Concord man facing charges for a lethal knife attack on his wife in their Panoramic Drive home October 23 was out on bail for a previous assault against her the night of the murder, court records show.

Thomas Iovenitti is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday after recovering from self-inflicted knife wounds police said were incurred the night of the murder. His wife, 39-year-old Alisha Iovenitti, was found just inside the home they shared in the 2300 block of Panoramic when police forced their way inside after receiving a call for help from one of the couple’s children – believed to have witnessed the assault and who called from a neighbor’s home at approximately 8:50pm.

Alisha Iovenitti was declared deceased at the scene while her husband was transported to a local hospital for treatment of wounds police said he’d inflicted upon himself as police forced entry to the residence.

Today, Tuesday, the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office filed a criminal complaint charging Iovenitti with the murder of his wife. The complaint alleges that Iovenitti personally used a knife in the killing. At the time, records show, he was out of custody on bail after a prior attack on his wife May 9 for which Iovenitti was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury, corporal injury to a spouse, and false imprisonment.

On May 19, over the objection of the District Attorney’s Office, Judge Jesse Hsieh set Iovenitti’s bail at $1,000 – the court also issuing stay-away orders barring him from contacting his wife or returning to the family’s residence.

In addition to the murder charge, today’s complaint charges Iovenitti with three other felonies: dissuading a witness from reporting a crime on October 23, and assault with a deadly weapon (a knife) and corporal injury to a spouse, related to the earlier incident on May 9.

The complaint also includes five misdemeanor counts, including a violation of a court order and four counts of child endangerment. Three of the child endangerment counts relate to October 23, and one relates to the May 9 assault, according to the district attorney’s office.

Iovenitti is scheduled to be arraigned at 1:30 pm on October 28 in Department 6 at the Contra Costa County Superior Court Annex in Martinez. He remains in custody at the Martinez Dtention Facility without bail. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 29 years to life in prison.