Wife twice sought protection from man accused of killing Riverside County deputy

Jesse C. Navarro, the man who the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said fatally shot Deputy Darnell Calhoun, was described in court documents as a violent methamphetamine addict who records show was once ordered to turn in his gun.

It’s unclear whether Navarro complied with that order or whether he used the same weapon to kill Calhoun, 30, who was gunned down as he arrived at a domestic violence call on Hilldale Lane on Jan. 13 in the unincorporated Lakeland Village community near Lake Elsinore.

Navarro’s wife, Yvette Navarro, filed a request for a temporary restraining order in 2004 that listed four children living at their Wildomar home, daughters ages 5, 4 and 17 months, and a 4-month-old son.

“He pull (sic) my hair and wrestle (sic) me in bed,” she wrote in a Superior Court filing. “He told me I will pay for it for trying to get a restraining order.”

Navarro said her husband pointed a gun at her and threatened to “do something” to her family.

A judge granted the temporary restraining order, which said Jesse Navarro had to remain at least 100 yards away from the family and either sell or turn in his gun. But the case was closed when neither one of the couple showed up for the hearing for a permanent restraining order, court records show.

In 2021, Yvette Navarro again sought a temporary restraining order.

“Has an addiction to meth and gets verbally abusive, loud, aggressive and intimidating,” she wrote.

He became upset, she wrote, when she wouldn’t allow him to drive the children to school when he was high or hadn’t “slept in days.”

“He got upset, took my wedding ring off, smashed it with a tool,” she wrote.

The judge denied her request for a temporary restraining order, citing a lack of proof of abuse.

Again, neither husband nor wife showed up for the hearing on a permanent restraining order.

Navarro remained hospitalized in critical condition Wednesday, the Sheriff’s Department said.

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