PROVIDENCE — Day-care operator Miledis Hilario reportedly discounted a frightening attack last week during which, the police said, a former boyfriend allegedly put a knife to her throat. Two days later, according to the police, he killed her.

The police also disclosed that the former boyfriend, Hamlet Lopez, may have been trying to kill himself with carbon monoxide when he was arrested after he allegedly killed Hilario on Sunday.

On Friday, the police said, Lopez surprised Hilario in the Federal Hill apartment they used to share. Lopez roughed her up, grabbed three kitchen knives, and put one of them to her throat and threatened to stab her, Hilario reportedly told the police.

Lopez also took two large knives and cut long slashes on the top and the bottom of the mattress on Hilario’s bed, Hilario reportedly told the police. Lopez allegedly then left the second-floor apartment at 42 Courtland St.

Details of the alleged attack, which reportedly occurred shortly after 10:30 p.m., are contained in an incident report at police headquarters.

Hilario, who fled to her sister’s house for protection after the Friday incident, disregarded relatives’ advice to stay away and returned to her apartment Saturday afternoon, according to police Maj. Stephen Campbell. Lopez allegedly returned Sunday and killed her with multiple knife thrusts.

Lopez, 51, who had no permanent address since Hilario, 41, had ended their relationship 15 days earlier, was arraigned on a murder charge Monday and is being held without bail in the Adult Correctional Institutions.

Hilario, the mother of three, was licensed to operate a day-care facility in her apartment. Lopez is a former teacher’s aide and janitor in the city schools who has been an outspoken member of the Hispanic community in public forums and Spanish-language radio.

On Friday, Hilario reportedly told the police, she was talking on the phone when Lopez suddenly entered her apartment. While the downstairs door to a common area was locked, Lopez would have had a key, and her door was unlocked, she said.

Since their breakup, Campbell said, Lopez had tried to rekindle their 18-month-long relationship but had been rebuffed.

Lopez allegedly pushed her against the kitchen wall and grabbed her arm and face. Then he slashed the mattress and put a knife to her throat, according to the police report. After emergency medical technicians arrived, Hilario reportedly said her arm, shoulder and face hurt, but declined medical attention. She did submit to the police a handwritten statement relating what had occurred.

Although the police wanted to charge Lopez in connection with the incident, he was not apprehended before he allegedly killed Hilario. She went back to her apartment, Campbell said, after telling relatives that she felt safe.

On Sunday, one of Hilario’s daughters repeatedly tried unsuccessfully to call her mother. Worried, she called the police that night and then met them at the apartment, according to Campbell. A police officer went inside at about 11 p.m. and discovered Hilario’s body.

Officers subsequently went to a tenement at 39 Bellevue Ave., in the West End, that Lopez owns but at which he did not live. Hearing the sound of a falling object inside a detached garage, the officers kicked in a section of a closed garage door and saw Lopez standing next to a minivan. Campbell said Lopez had stolen Hilario’s minivan after the slaying, pulled it into the garage, closed the door and kept the motor running, causing exhaust fumes to accumulate inside.

The officers broke down the door and arrested Lopez, according to the major.

After allegedly killing Hilario, Campbell disclosed yesterday, Lopez telephoned an acquaintance and said he intended to kill himself.

A bail hearing has been scheduled for Lopez in District Court June 4.

With reports from staff writer Richard C. Dujardin

gsmith@projo.com