SANTA CLARITA — The estranged husband of a woman stabbed to death in her Santa Clarita area home was in custody Friday morning following an hours-long standoff with authorities in Gorman.
The stabbing occurred about 5:10 a.m. Thursday on the 22800 block of Fir Court, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
The woman died at a hospital, according to the sheriff’s department. She was identified in multiple broadcast reports as Michelle Dorsey.
Sheriff’s Lt. Barry Hall told CBS2, “Prior to dying, she identified her estranged husband, who we are naming as James Matthew Dorsey, as the person who stabbed her.”
Dorsey, 41, of Washington state, fled the area in his wife’s 2013 Chevrolet Malibu, which was found by authorities about 6 p.m. at 330th Street West and Alamo Pump Drive near Gorman. He was believed to be armed with a large knife and barricaded himself in the car.
The barricade concluded about 10:10 p.m., the department said.
“After several hours and many verbal attempts by Santa Clarita Station deputies, (Sheriff’s Enforcement Bureau) Tactical Team and Crisis Negotiations Team, the incident concluded peacefully,” the department said.
“SEB Tactical Team was able to safely contact the barricaded armed murder suspect.
“The suspect was arrested and taken into custody without any incident.”
The station reported that two children were in the home at the time of the attack.
“The information we have right now is that he’s not even living in the state, and they were certainly estranged, he’s not even welcome at the house — he probably forced his way through the door at the back,” Hall said.
A GoFundMe page was established for the victim’s sons and had raised more than $10,300 of its $25,000 goal.