A Bellevue Safeway employee under investigation for the October stabbing of a shoplifter died Tuesday from an apparent suicide, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Chris A. Greytak, 45, allegedly stabbed a homeless man with a pocket knife on Oct. 1, following a chase that began when Richard C. Beach, 37, allegedly left the Safeway store with a basket filled with liquor, razors, toilet paper and milk.

According to court documents, Greytak told police he pursued Beach outside the store, where the homeless man struck him in the head with a liquor bottle on a sloped sidewalk parallel to the south wall of the store. Greytak said he continued to pursue Beach, his pocket knife in hand, and engaged in a second altercation in the Bank of America parking lot that resulted in the homeless man being stabbed, the Safeway employee saying he had been in a headlock at one point.

Six days later at Harborview Medical Center, Beach admitted to police he had been attempting to shoplift from the store, but denied striking Greytak with a bottle, according to court documents. He reported being tackled to the ground, later realizing he’d been stabbed, but did not recall an earlier confrontation where he struck Greytak.

Witnesses corroborated Beach’s account of the altercation that led up to his stabbing, one telling police Greytak had chased after Beach, yelling “I’m going to cut you,” according to court documents, which state the Safeway employee has had at least 15 involvements with the Bellevue Police Department regarding his involvement in shoplifting incidents at the store. In one case on May 27, Greytak allegedly used his pocket knife to puncture the tire of a car belonging to two shoplifting suspects.

Police report, in an affidavit for search warrant, exterior security video does not show an altercation between Greytak and Beach at the location where the Safeway employee stated he was struck with a liquor bottle, however, interior footage shows Greytak entering a rear storage area in the store following the stabbing for 25 seconds, where a broken glass soda bottle would be found later that night. The search warrant filed by police in King County Superior Court seeks to test DNA found on the soda bottle with Greytak’s based on evidence of first-degree assault against Beach.

Greytak was a registered sex offender who was convicted of kidnapping a female acquaintance at knifepoint and raping her in Montana in 1992. His case made headlines 10 years later when the Montana attorney general and a Helena District Court judge came out publicly in opposition of Greytak being paroled, which occurred in 2004. The King County Medical Examiner’s Office lists the cause of death as asphyxia.