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Jeff Childs, 40, fatally cut his own neck with a kitchen knife in Lowell, Michigan, in February 2009 after stabbing his former girlfriend, Jayna Fuller, 29, as police cruisers arrived outside a relative's home, according to the Grand Rapids Press.

Police said Childs showed up unexpectedly at the home on East Main Street and confronted Fuller on an enclosed porch. The two had been in an on-and-off relationship for about a year, and Childs was upset over a recent breakup. Fuller had called ahead before visiting Childs' relatives, believing he would be away at a doctor's appointment, but he arrived, refused to let her leave the room and began stabbing her, according to the newspaper's account.

Troy Abel, 21, the boyfriend of one of Childs' nieces, said he talked Childs into stopping after a harrowing few minutes. "Jeff shook my hand and he dropped the knife. I thought it was over," Abel told the Press. "He walked away."

Childs then walked into the kitchen, picked up a 10-inch carving knife and held it to his throat as patrol cars arrived, Abel said. Childs said something about the police being there and about not going to prison, then fatally cut his own neck. "I begged him so many times to stop," Abel said. Five children, all nieces and nephews younger than 6, were in the house, and relatives had moved them and another adult to a back room as Childs lost control.

Fuller survived the attack. She told police she believed Childs had been drinking heavily, according to the Press.

Relatives said Childs had a long history of depression and had twice been treated at the Pine Rest Christian Mental Health center, most recently that October. He had threatened suicide before and was taking antidepressants, they said. Interim Lowell Police Chief James Hinton said officers had prior contact with Childs over "mental and criminal" issues but that he was never arrested and had no record beyond a 1995 drunken-driving charge. A niece, Nicole Ryan, described him as a devoted family man, and relatives said the violence was out of character.