A North Dartmouth man responded to his girlfriend’s attempt to end their relationship by stabbing her to death, prosecutors say.

Angel T. Alvarez, 65, is charged with murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in the stabbing death of Margarita Morehead, 59, at her Chelsea apartment Monday. Chelsea District Court Judge Christopher Henry ordered Alvarez held without bail and scheduled a probable cause hearing for June 12.

“Instead of dealing with the reality of an ended relationship with restraint and dignity, this man chose a shocking act of violence that ended Margarita Morehead’s life and ushered in eternal grief for her family, friends and relatives,” Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden said in a statement. “They will receive all the support they need from our office as this case moves forward.”

Chelsea Police officers responded to an apartment building on Lafayette Avenue just before 10 a.m. Monday and found Morehead lying in a pool of her own blood, according to prosecutor Erin Murphy. Morehead was pronounced dead at Cambridge Health Alliance in Everett.

A witness told police that Morehead had been dating Alvarez, who drives a car with a distinctively mismatched paint job, according to Murphy’s telling at the arraignment. Later in the day the cops found his car — red, with a black hood — parked at the intersection of Addison and Eden streets in Chelsea and saw what they believed to be blood stains inside.

In the evening, according to the DA’s office, Alvarez called for medical attention and said he wanted to turn himself in to the police. The DA’s office alleges that Alvarez admitted he stabbed his girlfriend during a recorded interview with police.