A 33-year-old Ketchikan man died Monday after he was stabbed early Monday morning at a home on Park Avenue.
According to the Ketchikan Police Department, dispatch received a call about the stabbing at about 8:40 a.m. Officers arrived soon after, and found Wayne Nathan, still alive at that point, with a single stab wound to his upper abdomen.
Deputy Chief Josh Dossett says Nathan was taken to the hospital, where he later died.
“At that point, officers seized the house, began applying for search warrants (and) people in the residence – witnesses – were brought to the station for interviews.”
That includes the man who allegedly stabbed Nathan during an argument.
“There were two males that were both staying the night at that residence. There was a verbal disagreement between them that escalated, and resulted in one of them being stabbed.”
The investigation is ongoing, and Dossett says no arrests have been made. The man who allegedly stabbed Nathan is not in custody; he was questioned and released pending the results of the investigation.
“We’re working with the District Attorney’s. The DA has to make the ultimate decisions on what charges. I can’t say we’re going to charge somebody, because there are varying degrees of what it could be, if he decides on charges in this situation. You have such a wide range, from first-degree murder to involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide. It’s really up to the DA’s office to look at exactly what the facts of the case are and what they fit.”
Nathan’s body will be sent to the state Medical Examiner’s Office in Anchorage for an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death. Dossett says a decision on possible criminal charges is not likely until the autopsy results are complete, which could take several days.
