Stabbing victim identified attacker before dying: reports
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Time was running short.
Try as he might, Terrance DeVaul Clark Jr. couldn’t stop blood streaming from his neck wound; when he spoke, blood issued from his lips.
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Mortally wounded, Clark managed to identify the man who stabbed him.
“Jeremy,” Clark told police. He didn’t know the last name, but said his attacker had stars tattooed on his face.
The name and description matched that of Jeremy Roberts, who has a lengthy criminal record. Arrested the same day, Roberts admitted hitting Clark while holding a broken lighter that was sharp on one end, according to newly-released court documents.
Roberts, 37, is charged with first-degree murder and is being held without bail. He faces a life term in prison if convicted.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled in July.
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At about 2:20 a.m. on April 30, police were called to the area of Tulare and Butte streets to a report of a stabbing victim.
An officer found Clark, 55, kneeling in a parking lot with a hand pressed to his neck, the reports say. Blood covered Clark’s neck and the ground.
The officer also applied pressure to the wound while questioning Clark, the documents say.
The wounded man not only provided Roberts’ first name and a description, he gave the area where Roberts lived, according to the documents.
An ambulance took Clark away. He died about two hours later at Kern Medical.
An officer at the hospital noted Clark had a 2-centimeter wound to the left side of his neck, according to the documents.
A blood trail led from where Clark was found to the 500 block of Dolores Street. Playing cards, a methamphetamine pipe and folded pocket knife were lying in the middle of the street.
Video obtained from a nearby surveillance camera didn’t capture the stabbing — but it did record voices.
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At 2:12 a.m., a man’s voice is heard saying, “Knock your a– out,” according to the reports. A minute later, screaming is heard.
Taken into custody, Roberts at first denied stabbing Clark, the reports say. He told police he hit Clark in the jaw over money.
Later, he admitted having the broken lighter in his hand when he struck Clark, according to the documents. He told police Clark was unarmed and didn’t attack him.
“Roberts apologized and stated he did not mean to kill (Clark),” an investigator wrote in the documents. “Roberts stated it was an accident and that he ruined his own life.”
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