Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017 | 10 p.m.
A man was fatally stabbed as he tried to stop his girlfriend, who’d threatened suicide, from cutting herself during an argument and struggle outside an east valley house earlier this month, according to a Metro Police arrest report.
Emmanuel Amar rushed back inside and yelled out to the homeowner of the house who’d rented the couple a room, “She stabbed me twice,” police said.
He was referring to Melissa Barnes, 30, who without being questioned, uttered to an officer, “I did it. It’s all my fault.”
Officers and medics responded about 3:45 a.m. Nov. 21 to the 3600 block of Diamond Head Drive, near Pecos and Bonanza roads, and found Amar with stab wounds to his chest and back, police said.
About 45 minutes before the 911 call, the homeowner broke up a fight in which Barnes was on top of Amar, punching him in the chest, police said. Some time passed and Amar went to the front yard, the homeowner said, to get some air.
Barnes followed, and a few minutes later, the front door slammed, and Amar cried for help, police said. Another witness told investigators that Barnes had said “I’m going to kill myself” during the argument that preceded the stabbing.
She told police that she was upset and tired of “making everyone sad around her,” so she grabbed a knife from the kitchen, police said.
Barnes, according to the report, said she didn’t know what happened after Amar grabbed her as she’d tried cutting herself during the argument, police said. Officers noticed superficial cuts to her wrist and neck.
She also claimed to have drunk heavily sometime before the incident, and besides the vodka and strawberry beers, she’d taken 35 pills, police said. A second homeowner told detectives that Barnes had recently been drinking heavily, something the couple had arguments about.
“And when she drinks, she gets violent,” the woman said of Barnes.
Amar, who inquired during the ambulance ride if the knife had penetrated a lung, died at University Medical Center about two hours after the stabbing, police said.
Barnes, who also was hospitalized and was coherent when she spoke to officers, was booked at the Clark County Detention Center on one count of murder, police said. She’s next scheduled in court on Dec. 12.
