WASHINGTON — A husband stabbed to death his 21-year-old wife in Woodbridge, Virginia, early on New Year’s Day, police say.

 The murder  — the first of 2015 in Prince William County — occurred in a Woodbridge, Virginia home.  

Police say the victim, Erica Renae Sherwood of Triangle, was staying at a friend’s  Woodbridge home when her husband, John Nathaniel Sherwood, 22, of no fixed address,  showed up to talk about an ongoing dispute.

A verbal confrontation escalated at the home in the 15100 block of Concord Drive.

Police say the woman who lived in the home awoke to hear Erica Sherwood screaming and John Sherwood chasing the victim.

Police say John Sherwood repeatedly stabbed Erica Sherwood in the upper body. She would be pronounced dead at the scene when police arrived at 1:33 a.m.

According to police, after stabbing his wife, Sherwood then jumped in his vehicle and fled, but ended up crashing into a tree near Concord Drive and Cloverdale Road.

Police say he then ran from the scene.

A state trooper saw him on Interstate 95, but he took off.

Police used a K-9 and a helicopter to search for Sherwood.

They found him in a wooded area on Neabsco Mills Road.

Sherwood has been charged with murder and assault and battery.

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