Man suspected of stabbing 2 homeless people in Spokane arrested in California
Jul. 7—A 30-year-old man was arrested in California last week after a homeless man was attacked in his sleep, the same crime he's accused of committing in Spokane.
Charles Nutter was arrested on June 29 in Fort Bragg, California, on suspicion of two counts of first-degree assault, according to a Spokane Police news release.
In the early morning hours of May 26, Spokane Police responded to a bus shelter on Stevens Street where a homeless man had been stabbed. The man was taken to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries.
On June 8, also early in the morning, another person reported being stabbed when he was sleeping under the Jefferson Street viaduct . Officers responded and provided emergency medical treatment before he was taken to a local hospital.
Detectives developed probable cause to arrest Nutter for the stabbings but determined he had gone to California. They put out a warrant for his arrest and alerted the Willits Police Department his last known location was in Mendocino County on June 29.
That same day, Willits Police officers responded to reports of a homeless man attacked while he slept. Their investigation revealed the attacker wore clothing with a distinctive logo that matched the logo Spokane Police noted in their investigation. An investigation into the Willits attack is ongoing.
The next day, Nutter was arrested on the Spokane warrants in Fort Bragg. Nutter was booked into the Mendocino County Jail where he is awaiting extradition to Spokane, according to the news release.
