Man accused of stabbing woman at sober-living home arrested

By Cara McCoy

Monday, April 5, 2010 | 9:13 p.m.

UPDATED STORY: Hearing set for man accused of stabbing woman at group home

Police arrested a 34-year-old man in connection with the stabbing of a woman at a sober-living group home on Friday.

The woman survived, but a Metro Police arrest report released Monday said she was stabbed at least 20 and possibly as many as 36 times, including wounds that damaged her intestines and lacerated her heart.

Police arrested Kelvin Patton, who is being held in the Clark County Detention Center on seven felony charges that include attempted murder, robbery and assault, all enhanced with use of a deadly weapon, in connection with both the attack on the stabbing victim and for holding a knife to another woman who was at the home.

According to the report, the stabbing victim called 911 to report she had been attacked. Police responded and found her in a pool of blood in the bedroom of the home in the 4700 block of Pioneer Avenue, which is near Spring Mountain Road and Decatur Boulevard.

Although severely injured and in critical condition at University Medical Center, she was able to tell investigators that she believed the person who attacked her was the father of “Tasha’s baby.”

Police later learned from another resident of the home that a woman named Tasha Warlick lived at the residence with her young son.

Patton isn’t the boy’s biological father but acts as if the child is his own, the report said.

The night of the attack, Warlick had been asked to leave the house for the night because she tested positive for alcohol, the director of the home told police. She said she drove Warlick and the baby to Warlick’s mother’s home, where they were to spend the night, the police report said.

The director told police Warlick’s boyfriend was named Kelvin and that she had kicked him off the property for smoking marijuana, the report said.

As the victim recovered at the hospital, police interviewed her again. She told investigators she had been sleeping when the man entered her room and began attacking her. She said he kept asking her questions about Warlick’s son.

The man also took her cell phone, credit and debit cards and forced her to tell him her PIN number, she told police.

Police later learned another resident had been home at the time of the attack but didn’t tell investigators what she saw because she was afraid. She told police that before attacking the victim, the man held a 10-inch knife to her throat and told her he would “write her obituary if she said anything.”

She told police she had seen Patton at the home on previous occasions and was afraid of him because she had seen bruises and black eyes on Warlick.

A second man was with Patton at the time of the attack, both the victim and the second resident told police.

The witness was able to identify Patton from a photo lineup, the report said. The second man hasn’t been identified.

Patton contacted detectives Saturday when he learned police were looking for him. He denied any involvement in the crime and agreed to take a polygraph test.

The report said the results of the test indicated he was being deceptive. He told police he had been with another woman at the time of the stabbing. When police contacted the woman, she told investigators Patton had been with her consistently for the past several weeks.

The report said police believed some of the statements she made weren’t credible.

Patton was arrested Saturday. The report indicated police were still looking for the second suspect.