BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A 57-year-old man was found fatally stabbed Thursday night in the backyard of his southeast Bend home and his 46-year-old roommate was arrested, then arraigned Friday afternoon on second-degree murder and assault charges.
Officers responded around 8:35 p.m. Thursday to the report of a deceased person at a home in the 60800 block of Raintree Drive, north of Knott Road and east of SE 15th Street, Bend Police Lt. Juli-Ann McConkey said.
Officers found Matthew Kenneth Hallberg, 57, deceased in the backyard, she said.
A neighbor, Debra Miller, told NewsChannel 21 Friday morning, “I didn’t see anything happening. I woke up and there was the whole police presence across the street. There were State Police and many cars doing the investigation. So it had happened, and I did see them bring out a body on a stretcher.”
Hallberg’s roommate, Robert Carter Lawrence, 46, was contacted at the home and subsequently arrested on charges of second-degree murder, aggravated first-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon.
Lawrence appeared for arraignment Friday afternoon before Deschutes County Circuit Judge Michael Adler, by video from the county jail.
According to Deputy District Attorney Stacy Neil, “A neighbor could hear the victim calling for help from the backyard (that) Mr. Lawrence was trying to kill him. A neighbor and another roommate arrived. Mr. Lawrence came out, admitting that he killed the victim.” He died of several stab wounds, she said,
McConkey had said, “The men were roommates and acquaintances,”
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