Staff report
KANNAPOLIS ó A Kannapolis teen was stabbed to death early this morning in a domestic incident on Linn Street.
A 26-year-old woman told deputies she stabbed the teen while defending her father.
The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office said Dustin Garren Lee, 17, of 21l8 Linn St., Kannapolis, died at CMC- NorthEast in Concord.
Investigators say Lee was in the process of moving out of the house when he was stabbed.
Shortly after 1 a.m. today, deputies were called to a disturbance at 2118 Linn St., Kannapolis ó a street off Stone Avenue, off Moose Road near the Martin-Marietta Quarry.
Before they arrived, county 911 dispatchers advised deputies of another call that a man had been stabbed.
Capt. John Sifford said the deputies arrived on the scene to find the victim lying in the yard.
The residents of the home, Emily Ann Howard, 26, and her father, William Howard, approached the deputies.
Sifford said Emily Howard told deputies she stabbed Lee while defending her father.
Sifford said investigators are still trying to determine what happened.
Sifford said the stabbing was a result of a domestic situation which had gone sour. “Dustin was getting his stuff together to leave … at some point he was apparently stabbed.”
Robert Earnhardt, chief of the Mount Mitchell Volunteer Fire Department, was the first medical responder on the scene.
Earnhardt said the victim had a large knife wound to the chest. “It was a good size wound, like from a butcher knife.”
Based on the amount of blood, Earnhardt said the knife most likely hit the heart. Although the first responders performed CPR on the victim on the way to the hospital, Earnhardt said they were not able to revive him.
The fire chief said the Linn Street address is familiar to the fire department. “We’ve run a lot of domestic calls, different boyfriends, overdose calls, her (Emily Howard) and her father getting into fights.”
The body has been sent to the N.C. Medical Examiner’s Office to determine the number of wounds.
Sifford said the weapon was a knife or some type of sharp weapon.
Sifford said deputies have consulted with the District Attorney’s office. At this point charges will await the preliminary autopsy report and information collected by investigators.
According to the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office, Lee and Howard were boyfriend and girlfriend.
The report indicates both Lee and Howard were unemployed.