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A Connecticut woman allegedly stabbed her grandmother and the grandma’s boyfriend to death in a gruesome killing after an argument over belongings, officials said.
Harlee Swols, 22, was found covered in blood by cops after stabbing 72-year-old Maryrose Riach 42 times and 63-year-old James Samuel Bell 22 times at Riach’s Enfield apartment, police said in an arrest warrant affidavit.
Swols — who violated a court order by being at the home following a domestic disturbance in July — told cops an argument broke out as she was picking up her things at her grandmother’s home and it “escalated so quickly,” the affidavit shows.
Swols refused to say what happened prior to the double homicide, but told detectives “not good things, clearly,” records show. She was charged with two counts of murder Wednesday
An autopsy found the throats of both Riach and Bell had been slit and they were each stabbed dozens of times in their residence, where Swols was discovered by responding cops “soaking wet with water and blood” as a shower ran, according to the report.
Bell was pronounced dead at the scene, while Riach, who had a faint pulse, later died from her injuries at a hospital. Both had severe defensive wounds, records show.
“Things got out of hand,” Swols later told detectives of the argument that led to the grisly slayings.
An Uber driver took Swols to her grandmother’s apartment, the first of three planned stops Sunday, according to the affidavit.
Swols claimed Bell had the knife first, but couldn’t explain how she got it. She admitted pushing her grandmother’s boyfriend at one point, but refused to say who had been hurt during the altercation, investigators said.
“She stated that she picked the knife up in the bedroom and when she picked it up, she hurt someone with the knife,” according to the affidavit. “When questioned further about who she hurt, she would not elaborate.”
A judge ordered a mental health evaluation for Swols, who was arrested at the scene for violating a protective order in July’s incident, Enfield police said.
The woman’s public defender did not address the new murder charges Wednesday, the Hartford Courant reported.
Swols remains jailed Thursday on $2 million bond, online records show. She’s due back in court on Aug. 26.
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