SANTA CLARITA (CNS) — The estranged husband of a woman stabbed to death in her Santa Clarita area home was charged today with murder, attempted kidnapping, first-degree burglary, fleeing police and resisting arrest.
James Matthew Dorsey, 41, was arrested on April 15 following an hours-long standoff with authorities in Gorman. He appeared in a San Fernando courtroom on Monday, April 19, but his arraignment was postponed to May 3.
The stabbing occurred April 15 at about 5:10 a.m., in the 22800 block of Fir Court, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Michelle Dorsey died at a hospital. The victim is listed in the criminal complaint as Michelle D.
“Prior to dying, she identified her estranged husband, who we are naming as James Matthew Dorsey, as the person who stabbed her,” sheriff’s Lt. Barry Hall alleged.
Dorsey, of Washington state, fled the area in his wife’s 2013 Chevrolet Malibu, which was spotted about 6 p.m. at 330th Street West and Alamo Pump Drive near Gorman, according to sheriff’s officials. He was believed to be armed with a large knife and barricaded himself in the car, which was surrounded by law enforcement.
The barricade concluded peacefully about 10:10 p.m. after “many verbal attempts” by Santa Clarita Station deputies and crisis negotiators to get the suspect to surrender.
Two children were in the victim’s home at the time of the attack, according to broadcast reports.
“The information we have right now is that he’s not even living in the state, and they were certainly estranged, he’s not even welcome at the house — he probably forced his way through the door at the back,” Hall said last week.
A GoFundMe page was established for the victim’s two sons, who were reportedly in their mother’s home at the time she was attacked. As of Monday afternoon, more than $85,804 had been raised toward a goal that was first set at $25,000 and later raised to $100,000.