A 23-year-old man was arrested early Monday morning for allegedly stabbing a woman he described as an ex-girlfriend, Seattle police said.

At about 4:20 a,m., several 911 callers reported a woman was screaming that she had been stabbed in the courtyard of an apartment building in the 1600 block of 19th Avenue. Police arrived and found a kitchen knife and a trail of blood, but no victim.

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Police did discover a man hiding in some bushes. The man fled up a fire escape and appeared to climb inside a fourth-floor apartment, police said. Officers later found the man trying to enter the building's garage. The man told police he was aware of the stabbing and said the victim was his former girlfriend.

He claimed that another man had stabbed the victim in the arm and that she had then called him for assistance. He said he picked her up and drove her to a hospital, where she refused to be treated. He then told police that he drove her to his grandmother's house in West Seattle. But police later learned the victim was not at the home.

The man finally admitted to officers that the victim was at his mother's house in the Central District. Officers found her at that home suffering from a stab wound as well as lacerations and bruising to her face and body. Police said her injuries were not considered to be life-threatening. She was taken to a hospital for treatment.

The man was arrested and booked into the King County Jail for investigation of assault.