An Arizona man has been arrested after he was accused of stabbing a man to death, dismembering his body and hiding his remains in a closet and suitcase at two separate locations.
Police said that the murder took place at an apartment complex in Phoenix, Arizona, on Thursday, May 7.
“I think brutal’s a good word, but almost one that doesn’t give it enough for a case like this,” Phoenix Police Department Public Affairs Bureau Sergeant Rob Scherer said in a statement, per Fox 10 Phoenix.
Christopher Ebanks was allegedly drinking with the victim and the victim’s girlfriend when they got into an argument, according to court records viewed by the outlet. As the argument escalated, Ebanks, 32, grew more and more angry and fatally stabbed the victim.
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Ashley Stetson, a prosecutor with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, said that the victim appeared to have been “partially dismembered,” per the outlet. “The victim’s hands and head were dismembered,” she added.
After police reported to the apartment, the victim’s girlfriend claimed that Ebanks made her clean up the scene and forced her to hide the body in a closet. The victim was then found “wrapped in kind of a blanket and an air mattress,” according to Scherer.
The girlfriend told police that Ebanks then took her to his apartment and forced her to shower in order to destroy evidence, and he allegedly held her at “knife or gunpoint” during the incident.
“Really it’s kind of profound, her strength to kind of go through some of the stuff that she went through, and witnessing what she witnessed,” Scherer said of the girlfriend, whose name has not been publicly revealed.
Police also searched Ebanks’ apartment, where they found the victim’s head and hands. “It sounds like the dismembered body parts that were missing from the, you know, original scene, were inside of a suitcase,” Scherer said.
Authorities have not publicly shared the name of the victim, and it’s unclear how the victim knew Ebanks prior to the incident.
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Ebanks was arrested and charged with murder and kidnapping. He is currently being held in custody on a $1 million bond, despite asking that they lower his bond.
“Is there any way that you can reduce that million-dollar bond to maybe $500,000? A million dollars is just not doable,” Ebanks said in court, per the outlet.
The judge denied the request and said, “Well at this point sir, I’m comfortable with the bond.”
It is not currently clear if Ebanks has entered a plea or retained legal counsel following his arrest. He is next scheduled to appear in court on Thursday, May 14.
