MALTBY — Her mother and son heard the screams and tried to force open the bedroom door.
Minutes later they found Gina Mangulabnan and her husband lying on the bathroom floor. There was a lot of blood. Mangulabnan, 48 had been stabbed repeatedly. Her husband was holding a box cutter in his right hand, according to search warrant filed in Snohomish County Superior Court.
Gina Mangulabnan died two days after the Dec. 4 incident. Her husband also was hospitalized with cuts to his left wrist and neck. Detectives suspect that his injuries were self-inflicted. He was in critical condition when he was taken to the hospital. An update on his condition was not available.
The couple lived with their two children in an apartment on Maltby Road. Gina Mangulabnan’s mother also shared the apartment with them.
Detectives spoke with her and Mangulabnan’s daughter after the attack. The couple’s son has autism and does not communicate verbally.
The Mangulabnans had been married for 25 years. In the last six months, Gina Mangulabnan started talking about divorcing her husband, court papers said. The family said that created tension between the two.
That afternoon Gina Mangulabnan’s mother said she heard yelling and screaming coming from the couple’s bedroom. She and her grandson tried to open the door but it was locked. They tried pushing open the door but couldn’t.
The older woman left the apartment to find her granddaughter who was across the parking lot near the office building. Once they returned, they saw that the couple’s son had forced open the bedroom door.
The couple were lying on the bathroom floor. They were both bleeding. Their son removed the box cutter from his father’s hand, police wrote in the affidavit for the search warrant.
The couple’s daughter started giving her parents first aid. Her grandmother called 911.
Police were told that Gina Mangulabnan was able to talk briefly and said her husband attacked her. She also reportedly said, “I think I’m going to die. I can’t breathe.”
Both were taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where Gina Mangulabnan died two days later. The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded that the mother of two died of multiple stab wounds. Her death was classified a homicide.
Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives recovered a box cutter knife from the home. They also took multiple photographs and seized the couple’s computer. The case remains under investigation.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley
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