Man charged with stabbing girlfriend to death

MIDDLE HOPE – A woman is dead in the Middle Hope area of the Town of Newburgh and her boyfriend has been charged with killing her. Town of Newburgh Police said Anna Tift, 23, of 306 Cortland Drive in the Parr Valley complex off Route 9W sustained a stab wound to the neck. Her live in boyfriend, Robert Lee Williams, 25, was found in the in the living room where her body was located. His clothing was bloody. Williams was interviewed at police headquarters but later taken to St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital complaining of pain. He was admitted for possible internal injuries, but later transferred to Westchester Medical Center. While at SLCH, he was charged with second-degree murder. Police received several 911 calls of a disturbance in the apartment around 2:30 a.m. Saturday. First officers on the scene heard an apparently injured person inside, but no one would come to the door so they used an axe and body force to break it down. That’s when they found Tift’s body. An autopsy will be performed to determine the exact cause of Tift’s death. The investigation is continuing.