Arrest Follows Stabbing Death

Sun., May 24, 1998

From Staff

A man died Friday night after a stabbing in north Spokane, police said.

Officers responded to a call at 2611 N. Hogan, where they found a man lying in the back yard. Medics arrived shortly after 11 p.m. and pronounced him dead at the scene. Spokane police wouldn’t release the victim’s name.

At the same time, officers were at a house less than a block away in the 1400 block of East Marietta. They found Robert E. Delao, 23, with a stab wound in his right shoulder.

The owner of the house said Delao had knocked on his door and asked for help.

After interviewing more than a dozen people at the Hogan address, police arrested Delao and booked him into jail on suspicion of murder.

Police said about 20 people were at the house when the victim was killed, but neighbors said there were probably three times that many at a back-yard party.

The neighbor who called police saw the incident through his backroom window, and said it started as a one-on-one fight. It quickly evolved into a brawl involving 15 to 20 people, he said, and nearly everyone scattered when the stabbing occurred.

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