Durham woman fatally stabbed in neck with scissors

Emergency crews took Deloris Bethea, 53, of 1011 Morreene Road, to Duke University Hospital around 6 a.m. where she died a short time later, police said.

Investigators were questioning the other woman, whose name was not released. 

"(They) are looking at the possibility that the stabbing may have been in self-defense," police spokeswoman Kammie Michael wrote in a news release. "According to witnesses, (the women) had been fighting in the parking lot before Bethea was stabbed."

Resident William Cheatham said he saw the women fighting and he called 911 after Bethea was stabbed and stumbled to his car.

"One lady pushed the other lady. The other lady pulled out a pair of scissors, and they got to scuffling and all this. And the other lady took the pair of scissors and stabbed her," he said. "(Bethea) looked like she was getting dizzy, and her whole shirt right here was red. And, you know, she fell, and that's when I called 911."

Neighbors said they knew Bethea as "Miss D." Cheatham said he knows both women and can't believe what he witnessed.

"Both of them are OK. Both of them are easy to get along with," he said. "It's bad that somebody's got to die over something petty or an argument. Now, a lady done died over it."

 Bethea's husband, Albert Hairston, said he passed out on the porch when told his wife of seven years was dead.

“She meant the world to me,” Hairston said. “That was the love of my life.”

Bethea left behind her mother, children and great-grandchildren, he said.

"I know her family is going to be devastated, especially her daughters and her granddaughters."