LONGMONT -- The first time Longmont police heard of a four-year long abusive relationship between Daniel Sanchez and Beatriz "Betty" Cintora-Silva was on Saturday.

On Tuesday, just hours out of the Boulder County Jail, Sanchez shot and killed his ex-girlfriend, her sister Maria Cintora-Silva and brother-in-law Max Aguirre Ojeda in the couple's Longview Estates home east of Longmont. He then turned the gun on himself.

He was in jail on suspicion of charges stemming from a Saturday attack on his ex-girlfriend and his subsequent Sunday arrest. Now, Longmont police, the Boulder County Jail, and the Boulder County District Attorney's Office are reviewing how Sanchez's weekend domestic violence arrest was handled and whether any procedures were missed that could have saved lives.

"I think it is my responsibility as the district attorney to make sure we all take a close look at this," said Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett. "I think it is fair to say there will be a thorough review, but I don't know if 'formal' is the way to put it."

Longmont Police Cmdr. Jeff Satur said the case is also being reviewed internally.

"We understand this is a terrible, terrible tragedy," he said. "It just highlights the concerns of domestic violence and volatility.

Looking for answers

Roy Choudhary, Betty Cintora-Silva's friend, has been looking for answers since he learned of the shootings, and he said he believes that important information was either disregarded or fell through the cracks. He and another friend took Betty Cintora-Silva to the Longmont Police Department on Saturday at about 4 p.m. to report that Sanchez hurt her during a meeting earlier in the day.

Officer Chris Lucci took the report and ultimately arrested Sanchez. In the report, he notes that Cintora-Silva said she met with Sanchez on Saturday in his truck in the Best Buy parking lot to discuss repayment of a $1,000 loan she extended to him. She told police she and Sanchez had split up after an abusive four-year relationship on Thanksgiving after he hit her and told her to leave. She moved in with her sister and brother-in-law at their Longview Estates home.

During her meeting with Sanchez on Saturday, Cintora-Silva received a text message from Choudhary, which Sanchez saw and got jealous. He took her phone from her, left voice messages that warned Choudhary to stay away from her and threatened to beat him. He then drove away with her, confronted her about Choudhary, and threw her against the dashboard before cooling down and returning her to the parking lot.

She told police on Saturday that she didn't report earlier assaults, but reported this one at Choudhary's behest. She told police she was "very scared" of Sanchez's behavior, but declined an offer of shelter at Safe Shelter of St. Vrain Valley and said she would stay with Choudhary.

According to Longmont police reports, officers learned later that Sanchez visited the home where Cintora-Silva was staying with her sister and brother-in-law at Longview Estates at 6:34 p.m. on Saturday and banged on the door wanting to see her. However, Sanchez reportedly left before Weld County Sheriff's deputies arrived. The home is outside of Longmont city limits.

Sanchez visited the Longmont Police Department at 11 a.m. the next day, according to reports and asked if there was a warrant for his arrest. He left when he was told there was not, according to reports. But at 11:45 a.m., Lucci called Sanchez and asked him to return to the police department to talk about Cintora-Silva's and Choudhary's story about the Saturday attack.

Sanchez told police she had threatened suicide and that "they've never had any domestic violence issues." He said she was angry he was seeing another woman and took his phone from him. Police report that he, in turn, took her phone, went through it and determined she was dating Choudhary and then used her phone to contact Choudhary to let him know "Beatriz was his girl."

He told police he visited her sister's house because he learned she did not go to work and was worried she would hurt herself.

While Lucci was with Sanchez, Choudhary sent the officer a note offering more details about the relationship.

In an email dated 1:08 p.m. Sunday, Choudhary wrote, "Beatriz Cintora has been complaining of chest pain since last night due to the manhandling she received from Daniel. I request you to please record this matter. Betty is someone I know who will bear tremendous pain against fear of retaliation from Daniel. Her sister will also attest to this fact. She never had the courage to defend herself from this abuser until last night when she met you. Before me, her sister and her aunts have repeatedly advised her to call the police when she was being beaten by Daniel Sanchez. I hope that yesterday's violent encounter with him will be her last, of the pain that she has borne for over four years. She is still very afraid for her life or being attacked again by the suspect."

Lucci arrested Sanchez after the interview and called Cintora-Silva at 2:15 p.m. on Sunday to let her know Sanchez was in custody, according to the officer's report.

Who knew what, when

Longmont Police Cmdr. Jeff Satur said Lucci then went on a series of days off and did not get a second email from Choudhary on Monday morning that detailed fears that Sanchez may have access to weapons.

"The victim Beatriz Cintora told me that (Sanchez's wife) had brought some firearms with her from Texas while she was visiting the accused here in Longmont," he wrote.

Court records for Sanchez show he had a misdemeanor conviction for possession of brass knuckles in Texas in 2011.

Satur said Longmont Police officials are looking into whether the department's email system can be automated to reply to emails when officers are off so case information does not end up waiting for an officer's return.

"We are looking at what happened. We're looking if we can do things differently with notifications," he said. "We don't expect officers on their days off to review their emails."

Sanchez was held in the Boulder County Jail from Sunday to await his bond hearing at 2 p.m. on Monday.

During the hearing, a Boulder County Judge gave him a $10,000 bond.

Garnett said the prosecutor did not argue for a higher bond based on the facts of the case and Sanchez's relatively minor criminal record.

"I am pretty sure we thought $10,000 was sufficient," he said.

Still, he said that the murders and suicide highlight the struggle the criminal justice system faces when working to determine the level of threat a suspect may pose.

"The challenge is trying to predict lethality with domestic violence cases," he said. "It looks like everybody acted pretty reasonably based on what information we had."

Sgt. Tim Schwartz of the Weld County Sheriff's Office said investigators learned after the shootings that Sanchez had owned the gun for a while and that his roommate was aware of it. He said it would take time for the gun to be traced to determine when and where Sanchez bought it. Boulder County Jail Division Chief Bruce Haas said on Tuesday that Sanchez bonded out of the jail at 9:58 p.m. on Monday using a bondsman.

Choudhary, who was listed as a victim in the case, said he did not receive a call from the Boulder County Jail to warn him of Sanchez's release and claimed that Betty Cintora-Silva told him she was not notified, either. A message left on Choudhary's roommate's phone notified him of Sanchez's release, he said, and he went to Cintora-Silva's workplace on Monday night to warn her.

He told the Times-Call he asked her not to return to her sister's home because Sanchez knew where she was staying and that he offered her a spare room in his home. She declined the offer, he recalled.

Haas said on Wednesday that a deputy who filled out a victim notification form before the homicides noted that Choudhary was not notified, but that a message was left on the alternative phone number. The log notes that Cintora-Silva was notified, Haas said.

However, Haas said, she spoke with the deputy who made the notification and she indicated that she spoke with someone who answered the phone at Betty Cintora-Silva's number.

"They talked with the person who assured the deputy she would be notified," Haas said. "It wasn't Betty. It was whoever else answered the phone there."