Bend man arraigned on murder indictment; July 30th date set for entry of plea
(Update: Adding new details)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A 27-year-old Bend man accused of fatally stabbing another man last week was arraigned Friday on a second-degree murder indictment while police seek help from the public in the case.
Judicial Officer Dan Bunch set a July 30 plea-entry date for Phillip Matthew Howard Evans in the May 7th killing of Robert Glenn Haston, 54, also of Bend.
The indictment revealed no new details in the crime and no new information was shared during Friday's arraignment, which Evans attended by video from the Deschutes County Jail, where he remains held without bail.
Earlier this week, the Bend Police Department asked the public for assistance in the case. Detectives are asking for witnesses who may have seen Evans between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Wednesday, May 7th, in the area between NE 2nd and 8th streets and NE Clay and Marshall avenues.
If you saw Mr. Evans in this area at that time, you're asked to contact nonemergency dispatch at 541-693-6911 and ask to speak to Detective Colton Henshaw.
Earlier story:
A 27-year-old Bend man made his first court appearance on a second-degree murder charge Friday as authorities identified his alleged victim and revealed that he was stabbed to death.
Around 7:16 p.m. on Wednesday evening, Bend Police responded to the 100 block of NE Emerson Avenue after dispatchers received a report of a deceased person in the area, Bend PD Communications Manager Sheila Miller said.
Upon arrival, officers found the victim, initially described a middle-aged white man who had suffered a fatal injury.
While detectives were investigating the man’s death, officers responded to a trespassing call in the 600 block of NE Irving Avenue, Miller said. The caller reported a man wearing a backpack running through his yard and behaving strangely.
Officers contacted the man, identified as Phillip Matthew Howard Evans, and took him into custody on suspicion of second-degree trespassing.
"Additional investigation revealed Evans as the suspect in the man’s death," Miller said in a news release.
Miller said Evans was arrested and taken to the Bend Police Department, then to the Deschutes County Jail on suspicion of second-degree murder, first-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon.
Evans made his initial court appearance Friday on the initial formal charge of second-degree murder. Gunnels confirmed to KTVZ News that the victim, identified in the charging document as Robert Glenn Haston, 54, was fatally stabbed.
Evans is due back in court next Friday on an expected grand jury indictment.
Miller said Thursday that detectives were serving search warrants and an autopsy was planned that day.
Evans has a criminal history, including guilty pleas to felony attempt to commit first-degree rape and first- and second-degree sex abuse charges that brought a two-year prison term in 2020.
In February of this year, he pleaded guilty to second-degree criminal mischief and received a 10-day jail sentence, court records show.
It's Bend's second homicide of the year. Two people were arrested and face murder, robbery and other charges in the fatal shooting of a Bend man at the Holiday Motel in early January.
