WIFE ARRESTED IN GRISLY HOMICIDE.

Byline: Cecilia Chan and Don Holland Daily News Staff Writers

A 37-year-old mother of five who claimed she had been abused by her beer-drinking, cocaine-using husband shot him in the head, dismembered his body and set the remains on fire, authorities said Tuesday.

Gladis Barreras Soto was arrested early Tuesday on suspicion of murder and the grisly dismemberment of Pedro Alba Barragan, 35, whom she married in 1980. His head and limbs were found stuffed in a smoldering garbage bag Monday night in a drainage ditch along the Ventura River. His torso was found in her garage during a search Tuesday afternoon.

``Everyday folks find this stuff hard to believe. I find it hard to believe,'' said Ventura police Lt. Brad Talbot. ``Just the grisly nature of the crime is disturbing.''

Police speculated that domestic violence was at the heart of the slaying.

``It's a real sad homicide,'' Talbot said. ``We have a family decimated by violence, a husband who is killed . . . pretty tragic stuff.''

Detectives identified Barragan through his fingerprints, which were on file because of his 1996 arrest on charges that he hit Soto and one of their sons, court documents show.

Soto was granted a temporary restraining order against Barragan in August 1997, after she claimed her husband was ``a heavy beer drinker and also a crack cocaine user'' who beat her on several occasions, according to court documents.

A judge quashed the restraining order in September 1997, when neither Soto nor Barragan showed up for a court date.

Barragan's body was found about 7 p.m. Monday when a transient saw a woman setting fire to a plastic bag in the 800 block of West Main Street, then driving off in a dark, older model hatchback, police said. Thinking it was burning trash, the transient went to investigate and discovered Barragan's body.

A preliminary autopsy showed that Barragan died from a gunshot wound to the head, said Jim Wingate, chief deputy coroner. More tests will be conducted today.

Talbot said this was Ventura's first homicide this year and likely the first dismemberment case in the city's history.

Neighbor George Mendoza said Barragan and Soto moved to their Ramona Avenue apartment last fall, and that nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.

``No one really got to know them,'' said Mendoza, a substitute teacher who recently taught one of the children, who range from 6 to 11. ``It seemed like a normal family. It seemed like a very good family as far as I could tell from the short time they were living here. It's shocking for me. I wouldn't expect anything like this.''

Although he never spoke with Soto, Mendoza said she seemed friendly when he regularly saw her take out the trash.

``She was just a normal quiet person; friendly, too,'' he said. ``She was trying to blend into the neighborhood.''

CAPTION(S):

photo

PHOTO (color) BARRAGAN