A man has been arrested for the murder of a woman at a bus stop in Glendale, Arizona, last month, after police say he stabbed her in the neck with a metal pen.
James Marshaun Christopher Weekly, 27, confessed to the murder, according to Glendale Police Officer Moroni Mendez, who spoke at a Friday news conference. However, Mendez suggested Weekly’s version of events was that he acted in self-defense.
Weekly is charged with second-degree murder.
On April 28, shortly after 9 p.m. local time, officers responded to reports of a stabbing near the intersection of 83rd Avenue and Cardinals Way. They discovered an injured Judy Ann Lopez, 62. She was transported to a hospital, where she died of her injuries.
“My sister went through a terrible ordeal. No family should have to go through that, but many do,” Judy’s sister, Linda Lopez, said at the press conference, before profusely thanking detectives for their efforts on the case. “Justice will be served for my sister.”
Mendez described how difficult it was to find a lead in the case because there was no video surveillance of the stabbing. But footage from a Valley Metro bus aided the investigation.
“We discovered that Judy had boarded one of our Valley Metro buses in the valley and gotten off at that intersection,” he said, adding that Judy was seen on bus video with a cell phone. She had a cell phone with her when she got off the bus, and when she was taken to the hospital and the scene had been cleared, the cell phone was nowhere to be found.”
“So it was after extensive detective work and investigating that we were able to obtain cell phone data records, and those are the ones we used to locate where that cell phone went,” Mendez says.
Detectives discovered the phone had been brought westward into a nearby neighborhood, and by reviewing home surveillance cameras, they discovered a man, later identified as Weekly, had moved through the streets shortly after the stabbing.
Police obtained a search warrant for Weekly’s home and executed it on Thursday.
“James was apprehended, and a cell phone matching Judy’s cell phone was located inside the home – not to mention the same exact clothing that he was seen wearing in the bus, the same bus that Judy was in and in security camera videos, was also discovered,” Mendez told the reporter.
According to the police officer, Weekly “confessed to quite a few things,” including that “he did it – he said that he stabbed her” and “poked her in the neck” with a metal pen.
“And it’s unfortunate, but it’s difficult to understand what the motive was,” Mendez continued, adding that Weekly reported Lopez was “suffering some sort of medical episode” and he “tried to see if she was okay, [and] she swatted away his hand,” cutting it, at which point the assault occurred.
According to court documents reviewed by AZFamily, Weekly expressed regret for what he did, telling authorities that he wanted Lopez’s family to understand that the incident was the result of a misunderstanding.
He reportedly added that he was “not trying to kill her,” and that he “wished he would have handled the situation differently.” Nonetheless, police claim Weekly told them several times during the interview that he “wanted her to feel pain and bleed because he was bleeding.”
The suspect is accused of belonging to the Gangster Disciples gang, which originated in Chicago.
Linda Lopez described her sister, Judy Ann Lopez, as “a great person; she had a great heart,” recalling how she helped homeless people and “touched” many in the Arizona community.
The victim’s sister described the murder as “senseless.”
“My sister…” I’m not sure what he thinks. that he was attempting to help her. He had intentions. “He knew what he was going to do, but that’s just my personal opinion,” Linda Lopez added, dismissing Weekly’s accusation that her sister was “acting crazy.”
“My sister wasn’t on drugs, she wasn’t drinking, and he said that he wanted to help her,” Linda Lopez told me.
