Thursday, April 14, 2011

Wichita, KS: Woman arrested in fatal stabbing

An 18-year-old woman has been arrested in connection with the Tuesday stabbing death of a Wichita man, police said Wednesday.
Wendell W. Smith III, 34, was stabbed several times with a large butcher knife in the front yard of a house at 2732 N. Spruce at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Lt. Ken Landwehr said.
Smith was taken to Wesley Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 5 p.m.
An ongoing argument that day culminated with Smith coming to the house on Spruce to confront the homeowner, with whom he fathered a 9-year-old boy.
The argument, which was about the 9-year-old, intensified in the front yard of the house and out on the street where Smith and a 16-year-old boy began to fight, Landwehr said.
"He was down on the ground in the middle of a fight... when he was stabbed," Landwehr said of Smith.
The victim was fighting with the suspect's boyfriend, he said. Witnesses said the suspect stabbed Smith several times in the back and front torso.
An autopsy was conducted Wednesday to confirm how many times and where Smith was stabbed, Landwehr said.
The suspect is the daughter of the 37-year-old woman who owns the house where the fight occurred, Landwehr said.
The daughter was arrested, and authorities confiscated the knife as evidence, he said.
Charges are expected later this week.
As many as 11 people — including a woman and two of her children who came to the house with the victim — were present at the time of the scuffle, Landwehr said.
No other arrests are anticipated in the case, he said.
This is the seventh homicide of the year in Wichita.

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