Vicksburg Patrolmen Sgt. adaryll dent, left, and Lt. Fred Hall-Hudson draw their guns as they prepare to enter 2909 Arcadia St., this morning in pursuit of stabbing suspect Roland Derell Welch. He was captured minutes later.(The Vicksburg Post/C. TODD MORGAN)

05/08/02]A Vicksburg woman died early today, apparently from a stabbing, and police arrested their suspect, her husband, hours later in the neighborhood where the two had been living.

Lila Eliana Welch, 23, 2911 Arcadia St., had returned to Vicksburg in March from Alabama, where she had married and lived with Roland Derell Welch, 25, Welch’s mother, Geneva Husband, 58, said this morning.

The Welches had argued, then struggled outside the home about 12:20 this morning, and that’s when, authorities believe, the fatal wound was inflicted.

The two had three children, ages about 7, 5 and 15 months, Husband said. They lived in the house with Husband and her spouse, Saul Fultz, 58. Husband and her daughter had jobs cleaning rooms at Battlefield Inn, Husband said. Roland Welch was working elsewhere, she said.

Husband and Fultz pointed out a small spot of blood on the grass in front of the house.

“I was inside watching TV,” Fultz said, adding that after he went outside he tried to stop the struggle.

“I thought he was choking her,” Fultz said. “I couldn’t get to his hand in time.”

Husband said she didn’t know how long the Welches had been married or where they were married in Alabama, but said Lila Welch had spent time in a battered-women’s shelter there before returning to Vicksburg. Roland Welch followed about a month later, she said.

The fight may have been about Lila Welch’s “wanting (Roland) to go home,” Husband said.

After being wounded, the victim ran into the house before being taken by ambulance to River Region Medical Center, Husband said. Warren County Coroner John Thomason said she had a stab wound to her upper abdomen and was rushed into surgery. She died in the Critical Care Unit at 3:30 a.m. An autopsy will be performed as early as today, Thomason said.

Husband said Fultz woke her up after the stabbing and she went out the front door, where she saw Roland Welch trying to get in a car and get away.

“Saul ran him away,” from the car, she said.

A brother of Fultz’s who had come to the house this morning said he went looking for Roland Welch before police got to the scene and found him in a house next door to 2911 Arcadia, hiding in a back closet.

“He told me, Don’t say anything,'” the man said. “When I left, he was still there.”

Authorities were called, but Welch eluded them until about 10:30 a.m., possibly hiding under a neighborhood house, police spokesman Jamee Carter said.

Formal charges were pending.