Just 25 days into the year 2005, Charlottesville police are investigating their first murder.
Forty-eight-year-old Artis Wayne Keyton, Sr. died sometime early Tuesday morning from a stab wound to the stomach.
According to witnesses Keyton and two friends were outside the B and R market on Avon Street near Bollling Avenue, and that's where the stabbing took place.
“We're still trying to investigate what led up to stabbing. We know there was a confrontation of some sort between Mr. Keyton and Mr. Zimmerman. What led up to confrontation, we don't know at this point,” says Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo.
Twenty-five-year-old Joshua Lee Zimmerman is now in custody at Charlottesville Albemarle regional jail.
He was arrested by Albemarle county police shortly after the stabbing and turned over to Charlottesville police Monday night.
“We have amended the charges against Zimmerman, originally he was charged with malicious wounding. Those charges have been amended to murder," says Longo.
Those charges changed on Tuesday when police found out that Artis Keyton did not survive. Zimmerman will appear in court for a preliminary hearing on murder charges Febrary 24th at Charlottesville general district court.
