San Bernadino, CA: Prosecutors charge San Bernardino woman in stabbing death of boyfriend

A 26-year-old San Bernardino woman was charged Wednesday with murder in the stabbing-related death of her boyfriend following a night out in Los Angeles, police said.
Brianna Jones stands accused of stabbing her live-in boyfriend of a year, Martin Luther King Daniels III, 28, of San Bernardino, once in the chest, knicking his heart, during a heated argument over "relationship issues" in the wee hours of Nov. 9, police Sgt. Gary Robertson said.
The couple had just returned home from a concert in Los Angeles when the fight erupted, said Robertson. He said he didn't know if something occurred during the couple's night out that triggered the stabbing.
"They had typical boyfriend/girlfriend issues. She said she felt like she wasn't being appreciated enough," Robertson said.
Daniels died of his wound at 4:48 p.m. Monday at Loma Linda University Medical Center. An autopsy was conducted Wednesday to determine the cause of death, Robertson said.
The couple's roommate called 9-1-1 following the stabbing, and Jones was not forthright with detectives at first, Robertson said.
"She basically said she didn't know who stabbed him or how he got stabbed," Robertson said, adding that it was only after further interrogation that Jones confessed to stabbing her boyfriend.
Jones' three children, all under the age of 10, were placed into the custody of child protective services, Robertson said.
Daniels' death made him the 41st homicide victim in the city this year, a 27-percent increase over last year's body count of 30 victims, Robertson said.
The uptick in homicides has not been a strain on department resources, Robertson said. In fact, the Police Department's homicide detail has a 58.5-percent homicide clearance rate this year, slightly higher than last year's clearance rate of 55 percent and higher than the national average of 55 percent, Robertson said.
"We've had to work harder and work more because we've already had 11 more homicide victims than last year, so we're more busy," Robertson said.
As is typically the case, the circumstances surrounding the homicides vary. Some are gang-related, some drug-related, some robbery-related and some are crimes of domestic violence ending in tragedy, such as the recent case involving Jones and Daniels, Robertson said.
As to why the increase in homicides, Robertson didn't have an answer.
"It doesn't seem like there are any real factors as to why we have an increase in these incidents. There's really no commonality to this at all," he said.
Jones, who according to online court records has prior misdemeanor convictions for petty theft, disorderly conduct while intoxicated and possession of marijuana, remains in custody at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, where she is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.