A Mesa man who traveled to Arizona's high country to snowboard and go out on a date with a local woman was slain by the woman's ex-husband, police in Pinetop-Lakeside said.

William Edward Westover, 29, was stabbed about 50 times and died at the woman's apartment early Saturday after her ex-husband forced his way inside, Pinetop-Lakeside police Chief Woody Eldredge said.

The woman's ex-husband, Chad A. Coker, 31, of Lakeside, is jailed on suspicion of first-degree murder, burglary, aggravated assault and criminal damage, police said. He is being held at Navajo County jail on $500,000 bail.

Eldredge said an officer responded to the woman's apartment early Saturday and found the suspect holding a bloody knife and Westover's body in the bathtub.

The woman was treated at a hospital for minor injuries.

Westover and the woman had been on their first date the night of the killing, Eldredge said.

They were forced to leave a restaurant when Coker showed up, moved to a sports bar and then went to the woman's apartment.

According to Eldredge, they had been at the apartment for only a few minutes when Coker broke in, put the woman in a headlock, grabbed a knife off the kitchen counter and forced Westover into the bathroom.

The woman used her cell phone to call 911, and Coker was arrested later that morning after a pursuit.

Eldredge said Coker had a history of physically abusing his ex-wife.