Man Wanted in Wife’s Fatal Knifing Surrenders : Crime: Suspect had been in hiding. Court records show he has history of beating the victim, who was stabbed in parking lot.

FULLERTON —  A man suspected of slashing his wife to death in a restaurant parking lot surrendered to police Thursday after a day in hiding.

Steven Todd Summers, 31, who had a history of beating his wife, according to court records, surrendered at the police station at 6:30 p.m. accompanied by relatives.

Brenda Suzanne Summers, 28, was stabbed repeatedly in the throat, face and chest Wednesday in the parking lot of Don Jose’s on North Placentia Avenue in Fullerton. As she was being attacked, a friend was calling 911 from a pay telephone, police said.

Court records portray a marriage that had become so violent that Brenda Summers won a restraining order to keep her husband away after he knocked her unconscious and burned her feet with a curling iron Dec. 10.

Steven Summers pleaded guilty Dec. 13 to misdemeanor charges of spousal abuse and assault and battery stemming from the incident and was sentenced to 30 days in jail and ordered to undergo counseling for spousal abuse, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Teri Hicks, who prosecuted the case. Hicks said Steven Summers was attending the counseling, as ordered.

In seeking the restraining order while the criminal case was pending, Brenda Summers wrote that she was visiting at a girlfriend’s apartment along with two male friends at 4 a.m. when Steven Summers barreled in and “obviously got the wrong idea.”

Brenda Summers said he tossed her against a shower door, knocking her unconscious. As she lay unconscious, he burned her feet with a curling iron. She said she suffered a concussion, second-degree burns, a black eye and swollen mouth.

She also alleged that Steven Summers bit her nose and then butted her face with his head on Thanksgiving Day last year when she told him she didn’t want to celebrate the holiday at his family’s house. She said he had beaten her at least three other times, leaving her with black eyes, a broken nose and carpet burns on her forehead.

“I am getting a restraining order on you today,” Brenda Summers wrote in the court papers Dec. 12. “I can’t take this anymore.”

She said she feared he would seek revenge on her or their 2-year-old daughter, Shauntelle.

The fatal attack occurred about 4 p.m. Wednesday, after Brenda Summers dropped off Shauntelle at her paternal grandparents’ home in Whittier, police said.

Within minutes, the grandparents told investigators, Steven Summers arrived at their home.

A short time later, Brenda Summers noticed her husband following and she pulled into the parking lot, a passenger in her car told police. Steven Summers was in his maroon 1987 Trans-Am, police said.

Brenda Summers ran from the car and was pursued by her estranged husband, who caught up with her between the restaurant and a car wash.

As she was stabbed, the male companion, who has not been identified, called police. However, by the time officers arrived the assailant had fled and paramedics pronounced Brenda Summers dead at the scene.

The couple had been married for about two years. Over the past seven months, police have received calls about domestic violence at their Fullerton apartment. Brenda Summers moved out of the apartment about a week ago, police said, and into a Placentia trailer park, where she met the man she was driving with at the time of Wednesday’s attack.

Steven Summers was being held at Fullerton City Jail on Thursday on suspicion of murder. Bail is set at $250,000. His arraignment is scheduled for Monday at Municipal Court in Fullerton.

Police said Summers had called home earlier Thursday afternoon, and officers with the help of relatives persuaded him to surrender. His father and aunt picked him up at an undisclosed location in Hollywood and escorted him to the police station.

The couple’s daughter has been placed in protective custody at Orangewood Children’s Home.

Times staff writer Thao Hua contributed to this story.