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Broken engagement triggers stabbing, attempted suicide

One young man is dead and another hospitalized after a domestic dispute turned deadly Saturday afternoon in Monroe County.

Pocono Mountain Regional police report the victim, Christopher Hernandez, 19, of Yonkers, N.Y., died Saturday about 9:16 p.m. at St. Luke's Hospital, Fountain Hill, where he was flown by PennStar helicopter after being stabbed at a residence in Pocono Plateau Park, Blakeslee, just west of SR115. Lehigh County Coroner Scott M. Grim said Hernandez died of a stab wound to the body and ruled the death a homicide.Brittany Hartley told news media Hernandez traveled to her home Saturday morning to wish her luck as she was scheduled to deploy to basic training in the Army in South Carolina early this morning. Hartley lives at the residence with her mother.Hernandez, accompanied by Hartley, pulled into the driveway of Hartley's residence when he was confronted by Philip Vonville, 29, of Blakeslee, a former fiancee of Hartley, who had broken off the engagement just two days earlier. As Hartley went to check on the welfare of her mother, Vonville approached Hernandez as he sat in his black pickup truck.Vonville reportedly broke a window to the truck, pulled out a large knife and began stabbing the victim. After the stabbing Vonville ran around to the front of the home where he slit his wrists and stabbed himself in the stomach.Vonville was transported to the Lehigh Valley Hospital, Salisbury Township, and treated for his self-inflicted wounds. He was arrested at the hospital by Pocono officers on a general charge of criminal homicide and related offenses and is under guard at LVH pending his release.Police gathered evidence at the scene, including the knife used in the attack.

Larry Neff/Times News This residence in Pocono Plateau Park, just west of State Route 115, was the scene of a fatal stabbing Saturday morning.