"Warren began stabbing himself until his father wrestled the knife away"

Father says son accused of murder suffered from nightmares from Iraq duty
Daily Breeze.com
By Larry Altman, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/31/2013

The father of a U.S. Army veteran accused of murdering his girlfriend in Lawndale testified Wednesday that his son was "different" when he returned home from two tours of duty in Iraq, suffering nightmares, attempting suicide and requiring medication.

Tymarc Warren Sr., whose 28-year-old son, Tymarc Warren Jr., is charged with stabbing his girlfriend to death on Jan. 8, 2011, testified during his son's trial in Torrance Superior Court that the former sergeant encountered a mortar attack on his first day in Iraq in 2002 and later witnessed the death of a friend.

"He kind of scared me a couple times," the father said of his son's return home. "He woke up one day in a cold sweat and talked about his buddy being blown up."

Warren confessed to choking and stabbing 22-year-old Eileen Garnreiter to death inside their Rosecrans Avenue apartment after his arrest, prosecutors said. The crime occurred about a month after Garnreiter gave birth to their daughter.

During testimony Wednesday, Warren's father described rushing to the apartment the couple shared and breaking open the door when his daughter told him she feared something had happened there. Garnreiter was lying face down on the kitchen floor. His son had his arm over her.

"Tymarc asked me to grab the baby," the father said. "She was fine. Tymarc grabbed the knife and said, 'I don't want to live.' "

The younger Warren began stabbing himself until his father wrestled the knife away. Deputies arrived to take him into custody.

Deputy Casey Cheshier said he found Warren on the floor next to Garnreiter's body, and that he immediately confessed.

" 'I killed her because I have hate in my heart,' " Cheshier recalled him saying.

Warren told Cheshier that he stabbed Garnreiter and shoved the knife into her throat when she grabbed it, confessing again, " 'I have the devil and hate in my heart. I stabbed her and then I cut my wrists,' " Cheshier recalled.
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