Police arrested and charged the son of a woman who was stabbed to death New Year’s Eve in her Pikesville home, the Baltimore County Police Department said in a news release Thursday.

Officers arrived to the home in the 100 block of Brightside Avenue around 1:45 p.m. Tuesday after they were notified of a domestic dispute between a family member and the homeowner, police said in a statement released Tuesday. Police found the victim, later identified as 57-year-old Melanie Fried, “hunched over a chair with multiple stab wounds to her chest and hands,” court records show. She was pronounced dead on the scene.

Police said they arrested 21-year-old Xander Fried and charged him with first degree murder. According to charging documents, Fried called police Tuesday and told them he killed his mother. He is being held without bond at the Baltimore County Detention Center.

This incident follows a spate of fatal stabbings in Baltimore County this year, including one in Towson in December that left a 37-year-old man dead.

Homicides in Baltimore County have decreased since 2023, according to police data. In 2024, the county logged 23 homicide cases through Dec. 28, police data shows, a roughly 20% decrease from 29 homicide cases in the same period last year.

Carrie Mihalcik and Dylan Segelbaum contributed to this report.