The last diary entry Jaered Long wrote before his arrest articulated a love for his grandmother and the rest of his family, a Lawrence police detective testified Thursday.

Shortly after writing the entry, Long, then 16, grabbed a serrated, silver bread knife and stabbed his grandmother dozens of times on her own bed, Detective Jack Cross said during a hearing in Douglas County District Court to determine whether Long will stand trial as an adult.

In a December 2015 interview, Cross said he spoke with Long about the details surrounding the death of his 67-year-old grandmother, Deborah Bretthauer.

Before Long grabbed the knife, before he wrote in his diary, Long said Bretthauer told him to turn off his video games, Cross said; there had been no argument, no harsh words.

“He didn’t recall being angry with his grandmother,” Cross said. “He believed he didn’t care at the time.”

Long, now 17, faces a single charge of first-degree murder in juvenile court. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge. In March, prosecutors requested that he be tried as an adult.

Bretthauer was found dead in her apartment on Dec. 28, 2015. Long, who lived with Bretthauer at the time, was arrested shortly thereafter.

In all, Douglas County Coroner Erik Mitchell said Bretthauer suffered 34 injuries, including stab wounds, slices and abrasions. The fatal blow, he testified Wednesday, was a stab wound above her breast bone, which cut her heart and aorta.

Initially, Cross said Long told detectives that he and Bretthauer argued after she told him to shut off a game and that he then walked around the pond at the Sandra J. Shaw Community Health Park to calm down. Cross said Long told police that when he returned to the apartment at 1200 George Court after the walk that Bretthauer was dead and that he then called police.

However, Cross said he questioned Long’s story and soon more details came out, including the fact that there was no argument preceding the killing.

Defensive wounds on Bretthauer’s arms indicated someone trying to “ward off injury,” Mitchell testified.

During the attack, Cross said Long told him Bretthauer screamed “Jaered, no!”

Long then “stabbed her in the neck as a response,” Cross said. “To quiet her.”

Eventually, the knife broke into three pieces, Cross said. Long admitted in an interview that he wrapped the pieces in a tea towel and walked to the nearby pond, Cross testified; there, he threw the knife pieces into the water and stashed the cloth in a nearby tree before heading to a friend’s home to call police.

For the majority of his life, Long had been in therapy to address anger issues and behavioral management problems, witnesses testified throughout the two-day hearing.

The month before Bretthauer’s death, Lawrence Police Officer Robert Neff said he was dispatched to her apartment because Long had threatened to stab his aunt if she shut off his computer.

Lawrence Police Officer Skyler Richardson testified that the previous summer he was dispatched to Long’s home, where Long had broken a window and a video game system in a fit of anger.

Deborah Edelman-Dolan, Long’s therapist for several years, said he previously discussed suicidal thoughts and thoughts of killing his grandmother.

Long’s anger problem was pervasive and difficult to control, she said.

“Sometimes he didn’t realize he was getting angry until he was already out of control,” Edelman-Dolan said.

Another of Long’s therapists, Loraine Herndon, said in 2015 that she asked Bretthauer, who often accompanied Long to his sessions, to consider residential treatment.

Long had been hospitalized several times before, and as time passed Herndon said she noticed his problems were escalating and he was becoming threatening and abusive toward his grandmother.

Bretthauer said she would consider residential treatment, Herndon said, but the idea never came to pass.

Since his arrest, two additional felony charges have been filed against Long. He is accused of battering a juvenile detention center employee on both May 12 and June 9.

On Wednesday, three Douglas County Juvenile Detention Center corrections officers testified that Long assaulted them. One said Long threw a chair, which hit him in the wrist. A second said Long kicked him in the groin “as hard as I’ve ever been kicked.” And a third said Long punched him in the side of his face.

Pam Weigand, director of Douglas County Youth Services, where Long is currently being held, said his behavior has fluctuated greatly in the time they’ve known each other.

In the facility, Long has participated in music therapy, foreign language and art classes and another program where friendly dogs are brought to the facility, Weigand said.

The two speak several times a week, and Weigand said Long is a “really good conversationalist,” although he has been disciplined for a number of issues, including inappropriate comments, self-injuring and hitting staff, she said.

Long’s grandfather, Frank Bretthauer, who separated from Deborah Bretthauer about 20 years ago, testified that on an emotional level Long seemed to develop more slowly than his peers.

Often, Long would have difficulty focusing for longer periods or on more complicated tasks, Frank Bretthauer said.

Though he was aware of Long’s anger problem, Frank Bretthauer said he never felt physically threatened by his grandson.

If Long is found guilty of first-degree murder in juvenile court, he could face a maximum sentence of 60 months in prison or to the age of 22.

Weigand said she believed it may be problematic if Long were to be convicted as a juvenile.

“I don’t think we have anything to offer Jaered,” she said. “I don’t know what services the youth center has to offer that would help his behavior.”

If the motion to prosecute Long as an adult is granted and he is convicted, he could face life in prison.

On Thursday, prosecutors and the defense attorney, Branden Smith, exhausted their list of witnesses and the hearing came to an end.

Douglas County District Court Judge Kay Huff did not make a ruling Thursday on the motion to try Long as an adult. Instead, she scheduled another hearing for Oct. 31 at 11 a.m., when she will announce her ruling.

Requests for the arrest affidavit in Long’s case regarding Bretthauer’s death were denied by Douglas County District Court.