Suspect named in Cape stabbing

Police are looking for a man suspected of stabbing another man in the chest with a steak knife Thursday night in Cape Girardeau.

Billy J. McGee, 42, faces charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action in connection with the stabbing.

Shortly before 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Cape Girardeau police officers responded to a call about a man bleeding from a possible stab wound to the abdomen or stomach.

According to a probable-cause affidavit filed in the case, officer D. Hays of the Cape Girardeau Police Department arrived at 1430 N. Spanish St. to find a man sitting on the front porch, holding a piece of cloth to his midsection.

Within minutes, officers set up a perimeter and brought in a K-9 unit Thursday night to search for McGee but did not find him.

The victim, who was taken to the hospital by ambulance, told Hays he had gone to his father's house for a birthday party when he saw McGee walking down the alley and asked what was going on, Hays wrote.

The victim said McGee replied, "What's it to you?" and walked from the alley into the driveway, where he threatened to kill the victim, started to walk away, then turned back around and stabbed him with a wooden-handled steak knife, Hays wrote.

The victim gave conflicting answers when asked whether he knew McGee, Hays wrote.

Witnesses told police McGee fled to his mother's home nearby, then jumped a fence and escaped before officers arrived, Hays wrote.

According to a news release from the Cape Girardeau Police Department, the victim's injury -- described in the affidavit as a stab wound an inch and a half long and an eighth of an inch wide -- was serious but not life-threatening.

Anyone with information about the stabbing or McGee's whereabouts is asked to call police.

Online court records show McGee has a criminal history dating to 1994, when he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and second-degree assault and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

In 2003, he pleaded guilty to drug possession, and in February 2012, he pleaded guilty to distributing, delivering or manufacturing drugs.

According to online court records, he received a five-year prison sentence beginning May 14, 2012, for the most recent case. It was not immediately clear how much time he served or why he was released early.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642