GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING
Philadelphia-area authorities have arrested a man for allegedly beheading his girlfriend with a machete and attempting to dismember her body, according to police.
Police identified the apprehended 32-year-old Nicholas Scurria on Friday morning.
Officers responded to reports of a domestic disturbance at 4:40 a.m. ET at an apartment complex in Clifton Heights, according to a police report.
A witness in the neighborhood who called police said she heard loud screaming and banging from a nearby apartment. Afterward, the apartment “became quiet,” and the witness heard “sprawling-like sounds” and “the gathering or shifting of plastic material,” the police report states
Upon arriving at the scene, officers reportedly noticed Scurria sitting on a mattress inside the apartment and noticed that he was allegedly sawing off the left leg of the already-decapitated victim with a machete.
Officers held the suspect at gunpoint and from outside the apartment before forcing entry and taking Scurria into custody.
“She tried to cut my balls off,” Scurria repeated to officers as they apprehended him, according to the report.
The suspect told police during an interview that he and the victim had gotten into a fight, and that he considered their relationship over even though they lived together.
Scurria “stated that during the argument he knocked the victim unconscious after repeatedly striking her in the face/head areas.” He then admitted to trying to dismember and hide her body.
Once authorities were able to gain entry, they witnessed the suspect attempting to decapitate the already-deceased victim using a machete, according to the report.
Officials have charged Scurria with first-degree murder, third-degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon and abuse of a corpse.
An investigation into the incident remains ongoing.
News of the alleged murder comes after another Philadelphia man was accused of stabbing six family members Friday morning.
