HOT SPRINGS -- A local man was stabbed to death in the early morning hours of Feb. 19, in what Garland County sheriff's investigators believe was an act of self-defense, Deputy Courtney Kizer, the department's public information officer, said Thursday.
The Garland County Communication Center received a call at 3:04 a.m. that day regarding a stabbing at 2246 Mountain Pine Road, Lot 4, and deputies arrived at 3:16 a.m. and found Clifford Ashley Jr., 41, unresponsive on a bed with multiple injuries, a news release said.
There were two other people at the home when deputies arrived. LifeNet personnel arrived and began treating Ashley's injuries, but he succumbed soon after and was pronounced dead at the scene by a representative of the Garland County coroner's office.
Investigators arrived and began processing the scene and the evidence, the news release said.
"A male and female [currently in a relationship] engaged in a verbal altercation," Kizer told The Sentinel-Record.
"During the altercation, the male made statements he was going to kill the female and began to physically attack her," she said. "During the physical altercation, the female reached for the closest item which was a knife and out of self-defense stabbed him."
Kizer said the investigator's case file was turned over to the Garland County prosecuting attorney's office "to determine if they wish to pursue charges on the female or not."
The case remains under investigation, Kizer said.