Man Went to Hospital With Bloody Knife, Claiming Serial Killer Murdered Girlfriend. Then The Truth Was Revealed By KC Baker

On Sept. 20, 2024, a Massachusetts man staggered into the emergency room of a local hospital, holding a bloody knife in his hand and claiming that a serial killer had stabbed his girlfriend.

The man, Tyler Baglini, 32, said the serial killer was after him, too.

Officers rushed to the New Bedford apartment of Kerri Fidalgo, where they found her in the basement suffering from multiple stab wounds, ABC6, The Herald News and WPRI report.

Fidalgo had been stabbed 14 times in the neck, head and torso and had defensive wounds on her hands, The Herald News reports.

She was rushed to St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford where she was pronounced dead.

But there was no serial killer after all. Now, Baglini himself has admitted to killing her.

On Tuesday, Oct. 28, Baglini pleaded guilty in Fall River Superior Court to second-degree murder in connection with Fidalgo’s death, ABC6, The Herald News and WPRI report.

He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years.

The day before the violent murder, Fidalgo and Baglini had “extensive” text message conversations about Baglini’s mental health, court documents obtained by WPRI show.

Prosecutors said Baglini seemed paranoid in the exchanges, prompting Fidalgo to tell him to go to the hospital.

In her final text to Baglini at 9:57 a.m. the morning before the murder, Fidalgo wrote, “Tyler, we can talk later. After you get checked out. You need help. You need to get better. You’re having an episode and you’re paranoid. Everything will be okay, but you need help. I love you. I care about you. Please.”

Baglini wrote back: “Goodbye, I really loved you and I forgive you. Time to go to hell; you were the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Later in the day, Baglini called Fidalgo to let her know he was checking into the hospital, but did not, prosecutors said, ABC6 reports.

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Instead, he went back to Fidalgo’s apartment building, where he killed her, prosecutors said.

“I was so proud of the woman she was becoming,” Fidalgo’s mother, Melissa Fidalgo, said in court, The Herald News reports.

While she looked forward to many happy times with her daughter, she said instead, “I found myself planning her funeral.”

Fidalgo worked in the probation department at New Bedford District Court — the same court where her murder trial was held, WPRI reports.

She also worked with her father as a caretaker at a residential management company, according to the outlet.

She lived with her family and sisters.

Baglini’s attorney did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.