Rocky Mount Teen Being Held In Detention Center On Murder Charges

The hearing was held to determine if the suspect could be released from the Pitt County juvenile detention center in which she was being held. A judge ruled that she should stay behind bars.

The suspect's name has been withheld because of her age.

According to Rocky Mount police, 45-year-old Theodore Roosevelt Edmonds was stabbed to death Monday night after he slapped the suspect during a domestic dispute with the suspect, her mother and sister.

Authorities say the argument originally was between Edmonds and the suspect's sister. Then, the girls' mother got involved, and the suspect stabbed Edmonds in the back.

Records show there was only one stab wound. But the weapon struck one of the main arteries.

A Police spokesman said that police and rescue workers were called to the home shortly before 11 p.m. Monday, adding that the caller said Edmonds was having a heart attack.

The suspect was charged by juvenile petition and taken to the Pitt County Juvenile Detention Center in Greenville. The apparent murder weapon also was recovered.

Police said the family had been evicted from the home for not paying rent but had apparently broken into the home Monday night.

Records show that Edmonds has a history of domestic violence. In 1996, he was convicted of beating his former girlfriend so badly that the District Attorney's office upgraded charges from assault on a female to assault with a deadly weapon, inflicting serious injury.

"He was waiting for her when she got off work at Standard Products," a Nash County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman said. "He punched her in the face, and she had to go to the emergency room because of the extensive injuries to her face, nose and ear."

Edmonds was extradited from Maryland to stand trial for those charges, and he was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon, inflicting serious injury.

He received probation. But he violated the terms and ultimately served time in prison for the conviction.