A 55-year-old man charged with the murder of his wife in Baltimore County was ordered to be held without bond Tuesday, pending a competency assessment, according to court officials.

Officers responded Monday around 6:15 a.m. to the 900 block of Maplehurst Lane in Monkton, where 56-year-old Kimberly Lechner was found dead with trauma-related injuries.

Police questioned and then arrested Anthony Lechner, charging him with first-degree murder.

Suspect claims he had no recollection of the incident

According to his public defender, Lechner claimed he "didn't realize what was going on."  

The attorney told the judge that when she asked for Lechner's emergency contact during their meeting, he kept giving her his dead wife's name and number. So, she requested the competency evaluation. 

According to charging documents, Lechner also seemed confused when he spoke with police at the scene.

A man reportedly called 911, saying his brother-in-law was stabbing his sister. According to charging documents, when officers arrived, Lechner was sitting on the stairs covered in blood and asked the officers, "What happened?"

His wife was found upstairs with multiple stab wounds and pronounced dead. Kimberly Lechner's brother told police he heard screaming and then saw her husband stabbing her.

Charging documents state the brother tried to stop it. He called 911 and was eventually able to disarm Anthony Lechner.

According to charging documents, when police interviewed Lechner, he told them he had no recollection of the incident.

Hereford Faith and Life Church said on social media, "I regret to share with you that our two by two preschool community and the wider Hereford community have experienced a terrible tragedy. Kim Lechner, a longtime teacher at Two by Two, has died."

Murder-suicide investigation in Timonium

Baltimore County Police also responded to an apparent murder-suicide around 11 a.m. on Monday in Timonium. 

Officers were called to the 100 block of East Padonia Road for reports of a shooting. There, police found a man and a woman who had died with apparent gunshot wounds.

Police said it appears that the man's injuries were self-inflicted.

Murder-suicides in Baltimore County

Baltimore County has had at least three murder-suicide cases this year. 

A married couple in Owings Mills was found dead in April, according to police. 

Officers found 59-year-old Karen Franklin and 63-year-old Gary Franklin suffering from gunshot wounds when they responded to an assault at a house on Avery Hill Drive. One of the victims' wounds was self-inflicted, police said. 

On August 28, a child and two adults died in an apparent murder-suicide in Catonsville, according to police. 

Officers found 6-year-old Kimana Sharieff, 42-year-old Chantel Sharieff, and 43-year-old Mustafa Sharieff dead in a home while responding to a "check on subject" call.

Police said they believe Mustafa Sharieff was the shooter. He was found with self-inflicted gunshot wounds. 

Less than a week after that incident, another murder-suicide occurred on Sept. 2, which involved a woman and her ex-boyfriend in Parkville, police said. 

Kylee Long, 28, was found suffering from trauma and was pronounced dead on the scene, police said. Her ex-boyfriend, Terell Pryor, 29, was taken to a hospital with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He later died, according to officers.