A man charged with premediated murder says he decapitated his wife in front of their three-year-old daughter (below) because she didn’t “repent.” He later used the Bible to justify his violent crime.

Timothy Paul Hernandez, a 32-year-old man from the state of Washington, was arrested after his parents came home from church and found the decapitated body of his girlfriend. The couple reportedly had a verbal argument the night before.

They told investigators said Hernandez and his girlfriend were verbally arguing before going to bed that Saturday night. They left for church sometime between 9:30 and 10 a.m. and when they returned home, they found the woman dead… “Timothy advised that he had spoken with God, who told him to strike down his girlfriend … because she did not repent,” a detective wrote in charging documents. “Timothy stated that he struck her down, and caused for her head to be removed from her body.” Investigator said Hernandez quoted two Bible verses to them, including a passage from the Book of Revelation. “Each of the verses that were quoted had passages in them that spoke about women who did not follow God’s word, so God stuck them down.”

Hernandez was charged with premeditated murder because he didn’t just have a mental health breakdown. He had a fight with this girlfriend the night before, and then chose to kill her the next day, while his parents were at church.

Before you jump the conclusion that mental illness played a role in this murder, however, you should listen to what Hernandez himself had to say about that theory:

Hernandez told investigators he was not crazy, and stated that a crazy person would not tell the truth, investigators said. Detectives found a large butcher knife in the home’s sink, bloody clothing, and used a chemical to illuminate bloody footprints around the body that led into the kitchen to the sink where the knife was located. The victim had multiple stab wounds. Charging documents also give disturbing details about the 3-year-old observing the crime scene.

As horrific as this is, it seems neither unbelievable nor new. Even if religion played a role in the crime, the root causes for his violent outburst may go back to something even older than Christianity: jealousy and the desire to control a woman. The Bible was merely justification for what he did. Now it’s his only defense.

(Image via GoFundMe)

