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A man beheaded his girlfriend in front of his three-year-old daughter, police said.
Timothy Paul Hernandez told police in Mount Vernon, Washington, that he was told by God to strike his partner down.
The 32-year-old has been charged with first-degree murder and is being held on a $1m bond, local media reported.
Officers say they were called to the scene at 2400 18th Street at around 12.45pm on Sunday afternoon where they made the horrifying discovery.
According to a police statement, Hernandez says God told him to 'strike down' his partner after she refused to 'repent'.
Hernandez and his girlfriend, who has not been named, lived with his two parents and his young daughter at the property.
They were heard arguing verbally the night before, police say.
His parents, who first alerted police, say they went to church at around 9.30am the following morning and found the dead woman when they returned home.
Officers searched his home and found a large butcher knife in the home’s sink, bloody clothing, and used a chemical to illuminate bloody footprints around the body that led into the kitchen to the sink where the knife was located. The victim had multiple stab wounds.
Charging documents also give disturbing details about how the young girl was forced to watch the incident as it unfolded.
Hernandez is scheduled to be arraigned September 6 in Skagit County Superior Court.
Washington currently has the death penalty in place for first-degree murder convictions but the state's recently re-elected governor has pledged to halt executions while he is still in office.
BRONWat heb je toch een zooi gestoorden rondlopen