A Border Patrol agent allegedly stabbed his wife and drove off with her in the back seat, leaving their kids at home until a police drone spotted him

A 30-year-old off-duty Border Patrol agent in Laredo, Texas, is behind bars after police say he fatally stabbed his wife and tried to drive away with her in the back seat of a car. Abel Garza is charged with murder in the death of 28-year-old Mayra Alejandra Landeros, according to Law&Crime. The couple’s two children were still inside the home when officers arrived.

The stabbing happened in the early hours of Wednesday at a residence on Texana Street, in a large city that sits along the border with Mexico. Officers were sent to the area as a man was knocking on doors and asking several neighbors for help, the police chief said. Just as officers pulled up to the home, a police drone spotted a car leaving the area.

Officers pulled the car over and found Landeros on the floor of the backseat, suffering from multiple stab wounds, police said. She was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she later died from her injuries. Back at the couple’s house, officers found the two children and determined that they were safe.

The murder count is only one of several charges the Border Patrol agent is now facing

Along with murder, Garza is charged with two counts each of child endangerment and child abandonment, Webb County Sheriff’s Office records show. The Border Patrol agent also faces single counts of aggravated assault, unlawful restraint, interfering with an emergency request for assistance and violating a protective order. He is being held in the Webb County Jail on a $1.5 million bond.

Several of those charges tie back to the children, as officers found them inside the house after the car was stopped. Under Texas law, child abandonment covers leaving a child younger than 15 somewhere without reasonable and necessary care, while child endangerment involves putting a child in imminent danger of injury or death. The interference charge applies when someone knowingly stops another person from calling for help in an emergency.

The police chief said the circumstances surrounding the deadly stabbing were unclear. However, he noted that investigators are handling it as a domestic violence case. Police have not released details about what led up to the attack or why Landeros was in the car when it left the street.

This is not the first time the Border Patrol agent has been in handcuffs this year. He was arrested in January for allegedly pointing a gun at a woman during a domestic disturbance, the outlet reported. That disturbance happened on the same street where Landeros was stabbed this week.

A similar situation unfolded in California earlier this month, when police say a husband drove his wife’s body to a hospital parking lot. However, the Laredo case played out differently, as Landeros was still alive when officers stopped the car and found her on the floor of the backseat with multiple stab wounds.

An official with U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that Garza is a Laredo Sector Border Patrol agent who was off duty at the time of the stabbing. The agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility is now reviewing the charges against him, the official said. That internal review runs separately from the criminal case being handled by the Laredo Police Department.

Prosecutors are expected to take the case to a Webb County grand jury, which would decide whether the Border Patrol agent should be formally indicted on the murder charge.