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Woman Killed Inside Sunnyvale Home During SWAT Response Identified

SANTA CLARA (CBS SF) -- The Santa Clara County medical examiner's office has identified a woman who was found stabbed to death inside her Sunnyvale home on Thursday as 55-year-old Marlene Nehez.

Nehez was found after officers were dispatched to the home at San Pedro and Coachella avenues in response to a call from her husband saying he had killed his wife, police said.

The husband, identified by the medical examiner as 68-year-old Michael Nehez, was gunned down in a confrontation with a SWAT team after a morning standoff at the home.

According to the medical examiner's office, Michael Nehez died of multiple gunshot wounds and Marlene Nehez was killed by a stab wound that penetrated her heart.

Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety Capt. Dave Pitts said the SWAT officers opened fire on Michael Nehez shortly before 10 a.m. as he lunged at them with a 12-inch kitchen-type knife at the entrance to the home.

Nehez had phoned police at about 8 a.m. that day to tell them about his wife's murder, Pitts said. Police surrounded the residence, evacuated nearby homes and shut down streets in the area.

The motive for Marlene Nehez's murder remains under investigation, but Pitt said today that police had been called to the home on multiple prior occasions to investigate domestic disturbances.

He said both the husband and wife had been arrested previously on suspicion of domestic violence against each other.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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