Police: Suspect in Killing Tried First Aid

A 47-year-old woman arrested Saturday on suspicion of killing a man she lived with had stabbed him during an argument, then struggled to keep him alive, authorities said Sunday.

Penny Greer was arrested shortly after the attack on Thomas Joseph Englerdt, 34, who died Saturday night after being stabbed in the chest in their apartment, sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino said. Greer was being held without bail in the county Central Women’s Jail.

A roommate, whose name police did not release, was apparently watching television in another room at the time of the stabbing, Amormino said.

The roommate said he heard a commotion in the living room, found Englerdt wounded on the couch and called 911, Amormino said.

Paramedics arrived at the apartment shortly after 8:30 p.m. and found Greer giving first aid to Englerdt. Police said she would not stop trying to save Englerdt and had to be pulled away by paramedics so they could treat him. Englerdt was taken to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, where he was pronounced dead.

Greer was detained for questioning and later arrested on suspicion of murder.

There was some uncertainty about the relationship between Greer and Englerdt. Authorities believe they were married, but their roommate said they were not, Amormino said.

Deputies searched the apartment, in the 30000 block of Street of the Golden Lantern, and the surrounding area but were unable to find the weapon, believed to be a knife, Amormino said.

Authorities don’t believe the stabbing was an accident, Amormino said.

“Usually a stab wound to the chest is pretty deliberate,” he said. “But the investigation is still ongoing.”