He told her to wear skirts below the knee and vowed to kill her if she ever left him – so she stayed by his side despite the abuse.
Grimilda died last year due to injuries which her family claim were caused by Ariel.
He allegedly beat her so badly that she suffered two broken noses, shattered ribs and a blood clot on the brain.
She was also left with a knocked-out tooth and two dislocated shoulders from the domestic abuse, according to a 2005 court filing.
Speaking to MailOnline, Grimilda’s sister Elida Caraballo, 44, said: ‘My sister would be alive today if it wasn’t for him.
‘If I could talk to him I wouldn’t even talk to him. Words can’t even explain what I feel inside.
‘It’s hatred, he’s not even worth being called a father’.
Elida said that Ariel and her sister met because they lived across the road from each other and that a week later they were dating.
They moved into an apartment in the family home in Cleveland, but trouble began soon after the birth of her first son Anthony.
Elida said: ‘He became controlling.
‘That’s when everything started going downhill, the day she had Anthony.
‘He told her she couldn’t wear short skirts and that they had to be below the knee. They were like 1920s dresses.
‘He said she couldn’t go anywhere. He was controlling. She never had friends.
‘She would never disobey him. She was only allowed to talk to the family.’