Fort Smith man held in stabbing

Woman, 2 girls are hospitalized

— A Fort Smith man is charged with stabbing and critically injuring a Fort Smith woman and two Roland, Okla., girls at an apartment in central Fort Smith early Tuesday morning.

“It was really bad,” said a neighbor who asked not to be identified. “They were in pretty bad shape.”

Jailed without bond is Paul Jacob Stiles, 28, who was arrested at his residence on Tony Street in Fort Smith, near the Arkansas-Oklahoma line. Charges include two counts of first-degree battery, one count of seconddegree battery, possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, a Fort Smith Police Department spokesman said.

Kimberly Hunt, 43, was taken to St. Edward Mercy Medical Center in Fort Smith with multiple stab wounds where she was in intensive care Tuesday evening, a hospital spokesman said.

Whether the wounded woman knew her attacker is under investigation, the spokesman said.

Two girls who were visiting Hunt’s apartment - Lakayla Huff, 15, and her sister, Kaleigha Ricks, 12 - were flown to ArkansasChildren’s Hospital in Little Rock in critical condition with multiple stab wounds, according to a news release.

Late Tuesday, Lakayla was listed as being in critical condition, and Kaleigha was stable, a hospital spokesman said. The girls’ mother, Misty McGhee of Roland, and their sister, Adasia Ricks, 10, were at the apartment where the stabbings occurred but weren’t injured, police said.

Stiles has previous arrests for second-degree battery with a sharp instrument, driving while intoxicated and terroristic threatening, according to police. Disposition of the earlier charges was not available late Tuesday.

Fort Smith police were called about 3:50 a.m. Tuesday to the two-story, wood-frame apartment building with peeling white paint.

Hunt was sitting outside.The two wounded girls, along with their unharmed mother and sister, were inside, according to a report.

According to statements obtained by police, a man knocked on several apartment doors looking for someone named Marvin before knocking on Hunt’s door. Hunt let the man in and he said heneeded gasoline and to use the telephone.

The man also offered to help the other woman, Mc-Ghee, with a nearby vehicle that was stuck in the mud, according to the news release. The man told her to wait beside her vehicle.

About 30 minutes later, the man emerged from theapartment breathing heavily and told McGhee he would have to help with the vehicle another day. When McGhee returned to the apartment, she found her two older daughters and Hunt stabbed, the release said.

Neighbors told police that Stiles had been at the apartments that night.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 03/28/2012

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