An Arkansas teenager is scheduled to appear in court after allegedly stabbing a man to death following a fight and fleeing the scene in a stolen car.
Anthony Lee Tabor, 19, has been charged with second-degree murder and theft in connection with the April death of Michael James O’Malley, 34. According to a probable cause affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime, police responded to calls for a welfare check on a man, later identified as O’Malley, who was discovered on the side of a road in Van Buren. The man, who had a stab wound in his chest, had already died.
Detectives with the Van Buren Police Department continued their investigation and discovered that several witnesses saw O’Malley and Tabor fighting earlier that day.
According to witnesses to the physical altercation between Tabor and O’Malley in the early morning hours of April 6, Tabor “struck” O’Malley at one point, causing the alleged victim to “make a high pitch scream and fall backwards.” One witness told police that after allegedly striking O’Malley, Tabor returned to the vehicle he arrived in — which authorities say was stolen from Little Rock, about 150 miles southeast of Van Buren — and yelled, “I am a real deal killa!” before driving away.
The affidavit states that one witness called 911 to report the altercation. Another witness can be heard on the call saying, “[H]e just stabbed that dude.”
Robert Snider, who witnessed the alleged altercation, spoke with local CBS affiliate KSFM and described the fight to the station. Snider stated, “When I told you they were fighting, they were fighting. “One guy was on top of the other, slamming his head against the curb.”
Snider told KSFM that he witnessed the fight while driving and pulled over to try to intervene and separate the men. He called 911 at 2:47 a.m., but dispatchers and officers said they could not find anyone on the scene.
The affidavit stated that O’Malley’s body was discovered at 11:20 a.m. on April 6. The Arkansas State Crime Lab medical examiner determined that his cause of death was a stab wound to the chest, and the manner of death was homicide.
The car Tabor allegedly drove to and from the crime scene was later discovered in the apartment complex where he lives. A knife was also discovered near Tabor’s apartment.
The Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported that Tabor was already in custody for theft when he was charged with O’Malley’s murder. He is being held in the Crawford County Detention Center for $255,000. He is set to appear in court on Tuesday.
