NEWS

Victim in Phoenix decapitation death identified

Garrett Mitchell
The Republic | azcentral.com
Police remained outside the apartment near Colter Street and 13th Place on Saturday, July 25, 2015, after a woman's decapitated body was discovered.

The victim in the Saturday Phoenix beheading death was identified Sunday morning as officers continue to investigate the gruesome death that also saw two dogs mutilated.

The victim is 49-year-old Trina Heisch. Family members told police she was married to the suspect, whom Phoenix police have yet to identify.

Police said the suspect, 43, is still in a hospital being treated for serious injuries after he was found inside the apartment with a severed left arm and a missing right eye.

The scene was discovered just after 9:45 a.m. in the area of 13th Place and Colter Street, police said.

Sgt.Trent Crump, a police spokesman, gave this account of the horrific incident:

A male neighbor knocked on the door of the apartment to check on the 43-year-old suspect, whom he hadn't seen since the day before. When the man, whose name was not immediately released, answered the door naked, his left arm was severed at the elbow and his right eyeball was missing.

The neighbor could see that the apartment's floors and walls were covered in blood and immediately contacted authorities. Officers saw several knives in the residence, and it remains unknown which were used during the slaying and self-mutilation.

When officers arrived, they detained the suspect and entered the apartment. There, they found the Heisch's decapitated body inside a walk-in closet. Two dead dogs were also discovered inside the residence.

"It was an absolutely horrific scene," Crump said.

The suspect spoke with police officers outside the apartment and indicated that he "killed three family members," Crump said. At the time, it was unknown if the suspect was referring to the Heisch and the dogs or other relatives, but police are checking on other family members.

Crump said the suspect was taken to a hospital for surgery.

Crump said Saturday that the man has a "known mental illness" and that police have received calls to the apartment regarding Heisch and suspect.

"These two have a history of a domestic-violence relationship," he said.

Police released information Sunday that the suspect was arrested in 2003 after being accused of attempting to kill a family member and that Heisch was arrested in March after being accused of domestic violence. She was accused of trying to stab her husband.

Family members told officers that the couple has a history of mental illness and married after meeting in a mental-health facility.