Paradise Township, PA- A Pennslyvanian man has been accused of killing his wife on Christmas Eve and then hiding the body while he took his children to his parents on Christmas.

Justin Klopp, 33, admitted to murdering his wife Stephanie, 34, after an argument reports say. State police allege that he punched her in the face and then proceeded to cut her throat with a knife. He then bashed her in the head with an axe repeatedly.

After attempting to clean the mess, Klopp dragged his wife’s body into his shed concealing it in a large bag. Luckily, his children ages 2 and 5 didn’t witness the tragedy even though they were home at the time. Klopp took his kids to celebrate Christmas at their grandparent’s house.

“It’s chilling — just awful,” Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman told The Huffington Post on Monday. There were no prior incidences of domestic violence between them.”

Man Confesses to Police After Taking Children to Grandparents

According to Stedman, Klopp called the police at around 5:20 on Christmas day to confess that he killed his wife the previous night. Authorities arrived ten minutes later and searched the property where they found Stephanie’s body in a shed.

“I know that [Klopp’s] father drove him to the state police, so I would assume [he told his father] something,” Stedman said.

Klopp’s lawyer was surprised to hear about the murder charge.

‘They both seemed to be very level-headed individuals,’ he said. ‘… He never struck me as a violent individual.

Court records show that Klopp has previous criminal record with arrests for drugs, DUI, assault, and resisting arrest. He served time in 2009 for the drug charges and in 1997 for burglary.

Klopp resides now in Lancaster County jail without bond on charges of homicide, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with evidence.