Homicide suspect served nearly 10 years in prison, report says
A homeless man arrested in the May 5 fatal stabbing of a man found in an east Las Vegas drainage canal served nearly 10 years in prison for attempted murder, according to police and court records.
Christopher Lee Murphy, 42, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of murder after a body was found in the drainage canal in the 3900 block of Cambridge Street, near Maryland Parkway and Flamingo Road, police said. The name of the victim has not yet been released by the Clark County coroner’s office, but an arrest report for Murphy states the victim was stabbed in the neck in what was believed to be an argument over a woman.
Witnesses told police that a man they knew as “Bald Headed Chris” was seen leaving the area after the stabbing, the arrest report for Murphy states.
“(The victim) was climbing out of the wash, bleeding from the neck,” one witness told police. “Murphy was holding a knife.”
Murphy was arrested in 2007 on a charge of attempted murder in connection with the shooting of a woman at a Las Vegas home, Clark County District Court records show. He was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 48 months to 10 years in prison. Nevada Department of Corrections records did not detail a release date for Murphy, but his last parole board hearing was in June 2017.
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