BRATTLEBORO-Police said Friday afternoon they had arrested a 19-year-old man in connection with a fatal stabbing in front of the Brattleboro Transportation Center late Thursday.
Lavadus J. Williams, of Brattleboro, was arraigned on a second-degree murder charge later Friday in Windham County Superior criminal court in Brattleboro in the death of 25-year-old Aaron J. Colburn, according to charging documents.
He pleaded not guilty to the charge during that arraignment and was ordered held without bail, Windham County State's Attorney Tracy Shriver said in an interview following the hearing.
Further details surrounding the circumstances of Williams' arrest were not immediately available Friday afternoon. On Friday morning, Brattleboro Police issued a press release stating they had identified a suspect in the fatal stabbing and they were searching for that person.
In a four-page affidavit filed in support of the murder charge against Williams, Brattleboro Police Detective Sgt. Joshua Lynde wrote that police received two anonymous phone calls reporting a stabbing victim lying in the roadway on Flat Street in front of the transportation center.
The transportation center has been the site of reported past complaints from residents about criminal activity.
Lynde wrote in his affidavit that arriving police found Colburn lying in a crosswalk. Colburn, according to police, was taken to Brattleboro Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Witness statements and video footage from the transportation center led police to identify Williams as the suspect in the stabbing, according to the charging affidavit. Lynde wrote in the filing that Williams could be seen in the video footage speaking to Colburn.
"At one-point Colburn walks away and Williams heads in his direction, as he does you can see Williams pull out a knife and hold it in his right hand," Lynde wrote.
Colburn then walked back toward Williams, the filing stated, and soon after Williams pushed Colburn with his left hand and then stabbed him with a knife.
The charging document does not provide a motive for the stabbing.
If convicted of the second-degree murder charge, Williams faces up to 20 years to life in prison.
This News item by Alan J. Keays originally appeared in VTDigger and was republished in The Commons with permission.