Man Kills His Romantic Rival, Self, Police Say

A man who broke into his ex-girlfriend’s apartment and fatally stabbed her boyfriend in a jealous rage was found dead Thursday morning in a Reseda flood-control channel after he apparently committed suicide, police said.

A construction worker found the body of Matthew Elliot Lee, 25, about 9:45 a.m. in the wash at Kittridge Street and Reseda Boulevard, said Det. Rick Swanston, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman.

Lee stabbed himself several times in the chest, police said.

Hours earlier, Lee used a 24-foot stepladder to climb to the third-floor balcony of his ex-girlfriend’s apartment in the 6300 block of Reseda Boulevard, detectives said.

There, Lee kicked in a screen door about 8:45 p.m. and used a hunting knife to repeatedly stab the woman’s current boyfriend, Jesse Jamar Jackson, 25, of Inglewood, police said.

Jackson, who was found in the apartment’s entryway, died at the scene. His girlfriend, Candice Harriman, fled when Lee burst into her residence and was not injured.

Lee and Harriman’s four-year relationship ended in August, police said.