An argument between a Utah woman and her girlfriend in a parking took a violent turn when the woman stabbed her partner to death, the Deseret News reported.
Victoria Ashley Mendoza and the victim, Tawnee Maria Baird, were driving home to Holladay early Saturday morning after visiting friends in Ogden when they got into an argument in the car.
The argument escalated and the two pulled into an Ogden parking lot, police said. Mendoza, 22, allegedly became enraged and stabbed her live-in girlfriend of five years to death.
"It was a violent, tumultuous encounter," Ogden Police Lieutenant Tim Scott told the Deseret News.
Ogden police were dispatched to the scene when 911 was called at around 1 a.m.
"We were actually responding on a call of a murder or someone wanting to turn themselves in for a murder," Scott said.
The nature of the argument was not immediately clear. A friend of Baird who was in a car with the couple several hours before the murder said Mendoza appeared to be upset.
"Victoria, she was in the back seat, a little bit mad over just, petty stuff, and Tawnee dropped me off at my house," the friend, Lacey Black, told Fox 13 Salt Lake City. "And her and I have been best friends for 10 years, and she said, 'I love you,' and I said, 'I love you too,' and you know, 'bye.' "
Mendoza reportedly confessed to killing Baird and is being held at the Weber County Jail without bail on murder charges.
Mendoza and Baird, 21, had been living together in Holladay and had been in a relationship for about five years, Scott told the Deseret News. Police are looking into the couple's background to see if domestic violence was an issue.
Casey Baird, the victim's father, expressed sorrow on Facebook over the loss of his daughter who was also his "best friend."
"I love my lady bug more than I love myself," Casey Baird wrote according to the newspaper. He also left a message for the alleged killer, whom Baird's family had apparently tried to help.
"Don't try insanity plea! In fact I don't even want the death penalty! I want you to sit in a...prison cell and have plenty of time to rot!"
