Bend man found fatally stabbed in backyard of his SE Bend home; roommate arrested on murder, assault charges
(Update: DA files charges, confirms fatal stabbing; neighbor comments; Matthew Draxton report at Four)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A 57-year-old man was found fatally stabbed Thursday night in the backyard of his southeast Bend home and his 46-year-old roommate was arrested on second-degree murder and other charges, authorities said Friday.
Officers responded around 8:35 p.m. to the report of a deceased person at a home in the 60800 block of Raintree Drive, north of Knott Road and east of SE 15th Street, Bend Police Lt. Juli-Ann McConkey said.
Officers found Matthew Kenneth Hallberg, 57, deceased in the backyard, she said.
Hallberg's roommate, Robert Carter Lawrence, 46, was contacted at the home and subsequently arrested on charges of second-degree murder, aggravated first-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon.
“The men were roommates and acquaintances,” McConkey said in an update Friday morning.
Lawrence was booked into the Deschutes County Jail early Friday morning and was being held without bail pending arraignment Friday afternoon on the three felony charges.
The Oregon State Police Crime Lab assisted in the investigation, and an autopsy will be performed on Hallberg, she said.
District Attorney Steve Gunnels said the crime is alleged to have been committed with a knife. He noted that due to the murder charge, Lawrence won't be eligible for release on bail, but more information might come to light at the initial arraignment before Deschutes County Circuit Judge Michael Adler.
There were no signs in the neighborhood Friday morning of the investigation. A neighbor told us of a large police prescence earlier and that the man's body was removed Friday morning.
The resident, shocked by the events in the quiet neighborhood, said she did not know the men, and said a landscaping business operated out of the home.
Matthew Draxton spoke with her and will have the latest information on NewsChannel 21 Fox at Four.
