The new year was only minutes old when the city's first homicide was committed yesterday in Beechview, followed hours later by the discovery that the suspect had killed himself in his Baldwin home.

Police were summoned at 12:31 a.m. by the 58-year-old mother of William Murray to her home at 1423 Orangewood Ave. She reported her son was beating his girlfriend with a bat in the basement family room where the couple had been drinking.

Police who responded to the scene found large amounts of blood on the kitchen counter, floor and storm door. Officers were told that after the fatal beating, Mr. Murray, 38, had come upstairs and cut himself with a kitchen knife before fleeing in his 2004 Lexus, likely to his home at 1164 Camarta Drive in Baldwin Borough, according to police.

In the basement family room of the Beechview home, officers found the body of Lillainya Rachko, 29, of Beechview, who died instantly after being repeatedly struck in the head with an aluminum baseball bat, police said. Homicide detectives said the reason for the brutal attack remains unknown.

Baldwin police were contacted to assist at Mr. Murray's home. SWAT teams from the city and South Hills were also summoned to the Baldwin residence because family members told police Mr. Murray had guns there.

Repeated attempts by police to communicate with Mr. Murray at the house were unsuccessful. SWAT officers forced their way into the residence and found him slumped over in his car, which was parked in the garage.

Mr. Murray, who apparently had cut himself again at his home, was pronounced dead at 6:10 a.m.

The violence stunned many of Mr. Murray's neighbors, who said they knew him as a thoughtful and generous acquaintance who moved to Camarta Drive about three years ago and sometimes made appearances at neighborhood functions.

Curt Armstrong, who lives next door, said he and his wife had grown fairly close to Mr. Murray, who would invite them to his home to play pool and would occasionally help them with outdoor chores. Mr. Armstrong said he started seeing less of Mr. Murray about six months ago, after a longtime girlfriend who lived with him moved out.

"He was a very cordial, pleasant person to be around," Mr. Armstrong said.

Less was known about Ms. Rachko, whom neighbors said they saw occasionally but did not know personally.

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