Police: Man broke into Md. home, stabbed ex-girlfriend

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. - A 56-year-old woman was stabbed to death in her Upper Marlboro home by her ex-boyfriend, according to court documents. Police have charged Mitchell Cole with first-degree murder in the death of Amanda Jones.

According to the charging documents, Cole admitted that he broke into Jones' home in the 900 block of Andean Goose Way at 8:30 p.m. Monday, which was before the victim got home.

Jones pulled into her garage at 9:13 p.m., according to the documents. She was on the phone with a friend who heard screams and a struggle before the phone suddenly disconnected.

At 9:34 p.m., the friend on the phone called for help, authorities said.

Prince George's County police responded to the home, but a deputy chief says officers thought the screams came from outside. They checked out the house, but they did not go inside.

Was Jones still alive inside? On Thursday, a police spokesperson said the victim's time of death was 25 minutes before the first call for help. That would put the time of death at 9:09 p.m., four minutes before police say she arrived home.

At 7:25 a.m. Tuesday, authorities received a second call about Jones. Once again, police did a welfare check outside of the house and cleared the call.

At 10:23 a.m., the third and final call came after Jones' daughter went to the home and discovered her mother dead on the basement floor and covered in blood. She had trauma to the upper body.

At 10:36 a.m., Jones was officially pronounced dead, more than 12 hours after the first call about her attack.

The deputy chief told FOX 5 that police could have gone into the house, but they wrongly believed that the initial caller was referring to something that happened in a car outside of the home.

Meanwhile, police said they have not recovered the murder weapon and cannot say what it was.