‘No, don’t play with me,’ murder suspect told police when hearing of woman’s stabbing death

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Shortly before a deadly stabbing, the victim and her common-law husband were sharing food with the accused killer, according to court documents.

Lawrence Townsend, 45, was arrested the following morning after the Oct. 7 stabbing which took place in a landscaped area off a sidewalk on Maryland Parkway and Sahara Avenue.

The victim’s husband said he first spotted Townsend down the street with an “unknown girl who seemed upset” and was yelling that Townsend wanted her to perform a sex act on him. The victim’s husband said he yelled at Townsend causing him to run off, the arrest report said.

Sometime later Townsend approached the man and his wife and asked for food and they shared some with him. Documents said Townsend showed them a large, old knife he was carrying in a sheath. The victim’s husband said he left to go to a nearby store to buy his wife some medicine for an aching tooth and asked Townsend to watch over his wife but when he returned he found her bleeding from numerous wounds and the knife next to her. He called 911.

The woman, who was in her late 60s, was transported to Sunrise Hospital where she was pronounced dead. Between surveillance video and the man’s eyewitness account, police were able to get a description. Also, a woman who had passed Townsend on a sidewalk as he left the crime scene said she heard him mutter he was tired of getting rejected, documents stated.

When police arrested Townsend, police said he acted surprised to learn the woman died and then became upset and attempted to head-butt the officer putting him in a patrol car, the report said.

Townsend has a history of arrests dating back to 2002. He is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 14.

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