First-degree murder charges have been filed against a 29-year-old Federal Way man in the grisly death of his girlfriend.

Kenneth “Kenny” Mace is accused of stabbing 20-year-old Melinda “Mindy” O’Meara more than 100 times on July 6 at the Camelot Square Mobile Home Park on South 288th Street.

Mace is being held on $2 million bail and will be arraigned July 24 at the Regional Justice Center. According to Facebook, Mace is a 2001 graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School and O’Meara is a 2009 grad of Decatur High School.

An autopsy revealed that virtually all of O’Meara’s vital organs were punctured, according to charging documents. The blood splatter indicated a significant struggle, according to autopsy, but Mace had few signs of injury.

Police found several knives next to O’Meara’s body, including a broken knife handle and a barbecue spatula with serrated edges.

According to a police interview with Mace’s mother following the murder, the family was trying to convince him to get counseling.

According to his mother, about a week before the murder, Mace had returned to his home to find O’Meara’s family moving her property out of their residence. She said after that day, something “snapped.” His mental processing wasn’t the same and he didn’t act the same. She stated that even the emails he sent her were different.

After questioning at the Federal Way police department, Mace stated that he was a habitual drug user, including marijuana, heroin, Oxycontin and other opiate drugs in the past. A drug recognition expert detected a distinct odor commonly associated with meth use, and also noted that Mace’s pupils were constricted, a characteristic of a person “coming down” from meth.

Federal Way police responded to the mobile home park at approximately 11:21 p.m. July 6 after a neighbor called 911 to report the stabbing. When police arrived, they entered the trailer where O’Meara was laying face down on the kitchen floor surrounded in blood, according to the police report.

After the neighbor called 911, he flagged down a passing security officer. While waiting for police to arrive, the security officer detained Mace in handcuffs and in the back of his vehicle.

The neighbor stated that he was in his living room when Mace entered his residence through an unlocked door, according to the report. He noticed that Mace was “distraught and appeared on the verge of tears.”

The neighbor stated that Mace asked to borrow his phone so he could call 911. When the neighbor asked why, Mace responded, “I think someone is about to kill my wife.” The neighbor said that while he was on the phone with dispatchers, Mace stated, “I stabbed her,” the report said.

When police arrived, the suspect told them the knife was “on the floor next to the one she came at me with.”

According to the report, the man told police that he returned from a long day at work and all he wanted to do was take a shower when “she started talking in demon talk.”

Mace told police that he returned home from work just before 10 p.m. from a new job that he started that day. He stated that O’Meara immediately began harassing him, so he went into the bathroom to call his mom, documents said.

Mace stated that when he came out, O’Meara was sitting on the couch with a knife in her hand and that he thought she was going to stab him. According to Mace, he decided to throw a large glass marijuana bong at her head and was able to get the knife away from her. He then said he didn’t remember anything after that.

Upon further questioning, Mace recalled that he was able to eat a pork chop, take a shower and take a “hit” from the bong before throwing it at O’Meara.

Federal Way police report previous contacts with the man, but no cases of domestic violence between the man and the deceased woman. Mace does have a felony conviction for second-degree assault in 2000, according to charging papers.

(Below: Photo taken from Kenneth Mace’s profile on Facebook)