Man arrested in wife's killing

COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — A 41-year-old woman is dead after her husband apparently stabbed her multiple times.

Dennis Lambdin, 60, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of homicide. If the husband is charged by the Salt Lake District Attorney's Office with murder, it would be the first murder case for the recently formed Cottonwood Heights Police Department.

Police received a call just before 11 a.m. from a man in Maryland who said he had received an e-mail from his friend in Utah. The Utah friend wrote that the victim was lying next to him and she was not doing well, said Cottonwood Heights police detective Beau Babka.

Babka said the man in the e-mail told his friend in Maryland that he had just stabbed the woman. The friend immediately called police in Utah saying, "I think something is wrong. I think my friend has stabbed his wife."

Officers went to the duplex near 7300 South and 2200 East to check on the residents' welfare. Lambdin met them at the door, and police placed him in custody initially as a precaution.

Inside they found the woman dead of multiple stab wounds, Babka said. Lambdin had cuts on his hands, apparently from the knife slipping during the stabbing, he said.

He was taken to the hospital to be treated for his wounds. Upon his release, he was booked into jail.

The victim's name was not released Monday afternoon.

Police have been previously called to the residence, which sits isolated at the end of a driveway in a wooded area across from the Whitmore Library.

"We've been here a couple of times over the last couple of weeks," Babka said.

Most recently, officers were called on Aug. 11 to an argument at the residence. There did not appear to be any physical contact at that time or any signs of alcohol, he said. No one was arrested during that call.

In fact, Babka said it appeared the husband did not have any serious criminal history in Utah. However, he did have a criminal record in Michigan dating back to 1995, he said.

The couple are longtime residents of the duplex, police said. A neighbor claimed he often heard "banging and yelling" and "all kinds of noise" coming from the home at night.

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