Man killed in stabbing; girlfriend charged with manslaughter

Published 12:00 am Sunday, March 21, 2010

A 31-year-old Vicksburg man died early Saturday after being stabbed in the chest, and his live-in girlfriend was arrested and charged with manslaughter, officials said.

Dennis Lewis, 209 Central Drive, was taken to River Region Medical Center at about 3:18 a.m. after a fight with Chapiya Richardson, 28, Vicksburg police Lt. Bobby Stewart said.

Lewis was pronounced dead at 4:20 a.m. from a single stab wound, Warren County Deputy Coroner Ronald Reagan said.

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The two “were involved in a domestic dispute when the injuries occurred, “ Stewart said.

Bonnie Bufkin lives across the street from Lewis and Richardson and said she was awakened Saturday morning by emergency lights flashing outside her home.

“They didn’t bother anybody,” she said. “They pretty much keep to themselves.”

She said she could recall police being called to the home only one other time in the four or five years the couple has lived in the neighborhood off U.S. 61 South, last summer. They seemed to be a “normal family” with two young school-aged children, she said.

Stewart said both children were home during the fight; neither was reported injured.

She said Richardson “seemed like she was a stable person” in a nurses training program at Alcorn State University. It was not known if Lewis was employed.

Police arrested Richardson at the home just before 6 a.m., Stewart said.

Bufkin said the neighborhood is quiet.

“This was the only problem we’ve had,” she said.

Richardson was released from the Warren County Jail on a $25,000 bond.

The homicide was the fourth recorded in the city in 2010; none has been reported in Warren County.

Contact Tish Butts at tbutts@vicksburgpost.com