A Des Moines man is charged with first-degree murder after police say he fatally stabbed his live-in girlfriend during a heated argument on Tuesday night. Des Moines police Sergeant Todd Dykstra says the 34-year-old suspect turned himself in shortly after committing the crime.

Dykstra says about 8 o’clock last night, Troy Bresley walked into the police department and said he’d killed his girlfriend. A couple of squad cars were sent out to the apartment where police found the body of Tracy Davis, dead of apparent stab wounds.

Dykstra says the 23-year-old Davis was the mother of three children and at least two of them were in the apartment when the murder took place. He says as part of the ongoing investigation, “a couple of kids were in the apartment and then after the homicide, he took them to a family member.”

After Bresley dropped the two children off, Dykstra says he headed for the police station. The third child had already been staying with a relative. Bresley’s being held in the Polk County Jail under a half-millon dollar bond.