Detective: Manchester stabbing suspect confessed, described where knife was

Alex Wood, Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
Updated ·3 min read

Feb. 21—MANCHESTER — The man who is accused of stabbing a 23-year-old woman repeatedly in her home on Oakland Street in Manchester confessed when questioned about the incident and described the location of the knife, which police later found, according to a detective's affidavit.

STABBING

DEFENDANT: Damion Davis, 35, of Hartford

CHARGES: First-degree assault, home invasion, first-degree burglary, second-degree stalking

STATUS: Held on $1 million bond

Damion Davis, 35, of Hartford is charged with first-degree assault, home invasion, first-degree burglary, and second-degree stalking. The home invasion charge is the most serious, carrying a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum of 25 years.

At Davis' arraignment Tuesday in Manchester Superior Court, Judge Sheila M. Prats declined to reduce his $1 million bond. Public defender Mark Holmes said Davis was unemployed and had no ability to post bond. Davis remained in custody today, according to the state Department of Correction website.

At Holmes' request, the judge directed prison officials to provide Davis with mental-health care.

The stabbing was reported at 7:15 p.m. Thursday, according to an affidavit by Manchester police Detective Robert Dwy.

The victim was taken to Hartford Hospital, where she underwent "hours of surgery," making it impossible for police to "properly interview her about the attack," the detective reported.

But police did obtain surveillance video from a nearby business showing the assailant crouching next to a basement bulkhead, then opening the home's entry door and going in.

The home had a doorbell video surveillance system, which also showed the assailant entering the house. That system also recorded audio, and someone can be heard "screaming as if in terror" immediately after the man enters the house, the detective reported.

The victim's cousin told police she was in the house, heard the screams, then saw the man stabbing the victim as the victim tried to stop him by grabbing his hands. When the man saw the cousin, he ran out of the house, she reported.

Another cousin of the victim, who was on the scene, owns a nearby business. He told police that a man had spent about 40 minutes in the business that day, talking about the woman who was later stabbed and seeming to know a lot about her, including where she worked and where she lived.

The cousin said the man claimed to be dating the woman and "made a lot of inappropriate sexual remarks" about her.

Police also received a third-hand report that the victim had told her mother before going into surgery that she knew her attacker because he frequently came into the Sam's Food Store where she worked and talked to her.

During the investigation, Dwy and a fellow detective found a man resembling the one shown in surveillance photos from the victim's cousin's store. The man identified himself as Davis and agreed to go to the Manchester police station for questioning.

During that interview, Davis confessed to the stabbing and said he had discarded the knife at a bus stop at the corner of Main and North Main streets, where two police officers later found it, Dwy reported.

He added that Davis admitted having slashed the tires of vehicles in the driveway of the victim's house on previous occasions, which is what had prompted her family to get the doorbell video surveillance system.

The judge agreed with prosecutor Talia Johnson that the case against Davis is strong.

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