Gray Mountain – The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the bizarre death of a man who attacked a couple who stopped to help him because they believed he was the victim of an accident on Highway 89.
According to the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, on August 5, 2019 at 1:10 p.m., deputies and Arizona Department of Public Safety Troopers from Flagstaff responded to Highway 89N near Gray Mountain for a motor vehicle accident, stabbing and death.
The first deputy on scene found the body of a man in the middle of the south bound lane. The body had multiple injuries and experienced heavy bleeding.
Witnesses told the deputy that a vehicle just south of the location may have been involved and that there was a stabbing victim at the vehicle.
Investigation learned that an Arkansas couple were traveling southbound on Highway 89N when they stopped to assist the driver of a vehicle that they believed had been involved in an accident. When the couple approached the vehicle, a man exited the vehicle and ran at them with one hand behind his back.
The man, armed with a knife, jumped on top of the couple’s car and began to break the sunroof. A struggle ensued between the male passenger and the suspect on top of the car. The female driver attempted to drive away while the male passenger tried to push the suspect away from the car. While the victims were trying to drive off and while the two males were struggling, the vehicle swerved. The suspect fell off the top of the car into the roadway where he was later found by the deputy.
According to the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, victim and witness accounts indicate the vehicle traveled approximately ¼ to ½ mile at estimated speeds of 60 to 70 miles per hour before the suspect came off the roof and onto the road way. The male stabbing victim was treated on scene and transported to Flagstaff Medical Center for non-life-threatening wounds to his hands. The female victim was treated and released on scene by medics. The suspect’s wife was transport to the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office for questioning.
This matter is still under investigation by the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office and the Coconino County Medical Examiner’s Office.