Elias Abuelazam: The Multi-State Serial Stabber
July 23, 2010 — July 30, 2010
Seemingly compelled to attack increasingly frequently, the serial stabber apparently attacked another victim on Friday, July 23, 2010, a mere four days after the previous stabbing. This time the victim was a 21-year-old black man attacked at 5:45 a.m. on the 100 block of University Avenue in Flint.
Three days later, on Monday, July 26, 2010, Darwin Marshall, 43, was stabbed at 1:25 a.m. on the 800 block of Garland Street near West Fifth Avenue in Flint. He died a short time after being found. He lived in a north-side apartment with his mother and another relative, and liked to sing in the congregation of the Ruth Street Church of God, founded by his grandfather.
"It's a melody," his mother, Velma Marshall, said. "If he sang something for you, he would get your attention. He had a nice, angel voice....He was wonderful. I don't say that just because I was his mother. He was a wonderful person. A lot of people loved him."
He was an army veteran and the father of two adult daughters.
Following the July 26 attack, the serial stabber apparently began a streak of daily attacks. The next day, July 27, Antwoine Marshall, 26, was stabbed at 3:00 a.m. on Pierson Street near Fleming Road, in Flint. He described an experience similar to Richard Booker's, with similar wounds, except that he was stabbed six times in his stomach and chest. Marshall said that he was on his way into his apartment when his assailant approached and asked for help fixing his car. When Marshall opened the vehicle's hood, he was stabbed, sustaining injuries to three of his organs and a long scar from his chest to his pelvic area.
"When he was finished, he just walked off," Marshall said.
The following day, a 19-year-old black male was stabbed at 3:30 a.m. on Cook Street, also in Flint, and the day after that, July 29, a 59-year-old black man was stabbed at 6:00 a.m. on Saginaw Road and 12th Street.
On Friday, July 30, 2010, the serial stabber stepped up his pace once again and claimed two victims on the same day, one in Flint and the other in nearby Flint Township. The first was Frank Kellybrew, 60, a General Motors retiree who lived at the Hometown Inn, a Flint Township motel. Kellybrew's body was found in front of Italia Gardens restaurant, on Miller Road near Lennon Road, not far from the motel, by a passerby. Recently purchased grocery items lay near his body. Police estimate the attack occurred around 3:30 a.m.
John Henson, manager of the Hometown Inn, said that Kellybrew had walked across the freeway, Interstate 75, to make some purchases at a convenience store/gas station.
"He was a nice guy," Henson said. "He kept to himself. If he didn't know you, he would just avoid you and have nothing to do with you."
Henson said that Kellybrew liked to sit on a bench near the Italia Gardens at night.
"He'd just go over there, and sit and relax," Henson said. "It's pretty quiet over here at night when everything closes....Frank didn't deserve what happened to him. It's just senseless."
Kellybrew had been living at the Hometown Inn on a month-to-month basis since September 2009, according to Henson. Homicide investigators determined that Kellybrew was last seen walking west on Miller Road near Interstate 75.
The second victim of July 30 was not identified by the police, but was described as a 28-year-old black male who was attacked at approximately at 6:00 a.m. at an undisclosed location.