Bend man appears in court in DRW stabbings

(Update: Suspect makes first court appearance; arraignment set in a week)

A Bend man accused of stabbing and seriously wounding two people during a fight at a home in Deschutes River Woods late last week made his first court appearance Monday afternoon on two counts of attempted murder and several other charges.

Marcus Steel, 43, was moved from St. Charles Bend and booked into the Deschutes County Jail Saturday evening.

The district attorney’s initial charging document, called an information, was filed Monday lists seven charges: two counts each of attempted murder, assault and unlawful use of a weapon, and a single count of first-degree burglary.

Circuit Judge Wells Ashby scheduled Steel’s arraignment on an expected grand jury indictment for next Monday, May 7 at 1:30 p.m. before Judge Bethany Flint. Steel remained held on $502,500 bail, jail records showed.

Steel, the ex-boyfriend of one victim, fled the crime scene, prompting a manhunt and emergency phone alert to hundreds of area residents. authorities said. He was captured in the backyard of a nearby home, where a homeowner and his two dogs held him until deputies arrived.

Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched around 1:10 a.m. to a reported stabbing in the 19300 block of Kiowa Road in DRW, a rural subdivision south of Bend, Sgt. William Bailey said.

A 39-year-old woman told 911 dispatchers she and perhaps another person at the home had been stabbed. She said her ex-boyfriend, Steel, then left on foot.

Deputies, joined by Oregon State Police troopers and Bend police, set up a search perimeter and an emergency phone network broadcast was sent to more than 700 phones within a one-mile radius, advising residents to secure their homes and report any sightings to 911. Bailey said.

John Klukkert told NewsChannel 21 he was awakened by the phone call.

“We didn’t have any idea,” Klukkert said later Friday. “And of course, I immediately got up and checked the doors to make sure they were locked, and from there all we saw was red lights from the police department. There was about five or six police cars out here.”

An investigation determined that Steel had arrived at the home to talk to the woman. “A physical dispute quickly ensued” in the home, Bailey said, and during that fight, the woman and a 22-year-old man were stabbed. The man is a friend of the woman and was visiting the home, Bailey said.

The woman was taken by Bend Fire and Rescue ambulance to St. Charles Bend and the 22-year-old was taken there by a friend, both with serious injuries.

Steel was found around 5:30 a.m. after he went into the backyard of a nearby home. Bailey said the property owner and his two dogs held the suspect in the yard until deputies arrived and took him into custody without incident.

Steel also had sustained serious injuries after the dispute and before being found, although Bailey declined to reveal details, other than to say, “We don’t believe anyone is responsible for his injuries.” He was taken by ambulance to St. Charles Bend for treatment, then later moved to the jail.

Bailey said Monday that while both victims remained in the hospital, they are expected to be released in the next few days.

Court records showed Steel had been scheduled to enter a plea Tuesday after being arrested and arraigned late last month on a third-degree criminal mischief charge.