Harford judge orders Aberdeen man accused of stabbing Bel Air teen to death be held without bail
Jul. 12—An Aberdeen man who allegedly sold vape pens to underage students was ordered to be held without bail in connection to the fatal stabbing of a 17-year-old in Bel Air last week.
Frank George Hudson III, 19, was charged with second-degree murder in connection to the fatal stabbing of Christopher Jacob Kerfoot on Athens Court early Thursday morning. A Harford County District Court judge on Monday ordered Hudson to continue to be held without bail at the Harford County Detention Center.
Assistant public defender Brad Clark argued at the hearing that Hudson was very young and had no convictions or failures to appear before the court. Clark recognized that the charges were serious but said that there were conditions on which Hudson could be released to guarantee the community's safety, like imposing a reasonable bond or releasing Hudson on home detention.
Clark said Hudson could stay with his mother, though she planned to close on a new home and move soon. Clark was not able to say where that new address would be.
Clark also pointed out that Hudson "may have been defending himself," which would matter in Judge Mimi Cooper's determination of his potential threat to the community.
"I do believe it is relevant," Clark said.
Assistant state's attorney Mark Meehan said that Hudson had sold vape pens to underage students and knew Kerfoot before the alleged incident because he had sold vapes to him before. The two of them had a falling out, according to Meehan.
Meehan also pointed out that Hudson admitted to stabbing Kerfoot and that police had recovered the bloody knife allegedly used in the incident from a dumpster. It will be taken for DNA testing, Meehan said.
"The state considers him a danger to the community," Meehan said.
Ultimately, Cooper agreed with the state and ordered the 19-year-old to be held, pending a preliminary hearing, which is scheduled for Aug. 5, according to electronic records.
"I don't believe I could impose pretrial conditions that would protect the community," she said.
Harford County Sheriff's deputies responded to the 1200 block of Athens Court at approximately 5 a.m. July 8 for the report of a stabbing and found Kerfoot in his home suffering from two stab wounds to the chest, according to charging documents filed in Harford County District Court. He was pronounced dead shortly after.
Deputies found Kerfoot in the basement of the house where he lived with his mother, stepfather and brother, with a trail of blood leading to the shopping center behind Kerfoot's house, the documents state.
Kerfoot's brother told deputies that he woke up around 5 a.m. to the sound of the 17-year-old banging on the sliding glass door to the home's basement. The relative "stated that the victim was bent over and kept saying 'Frank did it,'" the documents state.
The police investigation led police to Hudson, who Kerfoot's brother identified as 'Frank' from a photo, according to charging documents. Investigators also found a Snapchat message Kerfoot sent to Hudson around 4:15 a.m. Thursday with a map location of the shopping center behind his residence.
Hudson allegedly replied to the message at 4:46 a.m., saying he was still waiting in his car because he knew Kerfoot had to "sneak out," documents state.
In an interview with detectives, Hudson admitted to stabbing Kerfoot in the chest, saying Kerfoot came up to his car and started punching, choking and grabbing him, according to court documents.
Hudson told police that he managed to grab his pocketknife from the car as he was being pulled out and was able to open it. He said he feared he would be attacked again and that Kerfoot was going to steal his belongings, the documents state, so he stabbed Kerfoot in the chest and chased him away from the car.
