Inset: Keyara S. McKnight (CMPD). Background: Tint World in N.C., where McKnight allegedly killed her child’s father (Google Maps).
A 32-year-old North Carolina woman is accused of killing the father of her child, allegedly blocking his car from leaving his workplace before sparking a heated argument that ended with her fatally stabbing him in the torso.
Keyara Shuntel McKnight was taken into custody this week and charged with one count of murder in the slaying of 34-year-old John Christian, court records show.
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According to a probable cause affidavit, officers with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department responded to Tint World on Monroe Road just after 6 p.m. Tuesday regarding a reported assault with a deadly weapon. Upon arriving, first responders found Christian suffering from an apparent stab wound to his torso. Officers attempted to render aid, but Christian was pronounced dead at 6:29 p.m.
Witnesses told investigators that Christian was closing the business when an older-model black Honda sedan pulled in front of his vehicle, “blocking it in.”
“Witnesses observed a Black female arguing with the victim and slapping the victim,” the affidavit states. “Witnesses explained that the argument was heated and involved both parties screaming at each other and walking around the vehicles. Witnesses also described that the female entered the driver’s seat of the victim’s vehicle before the victim had to pull her out.”
Following “prolonged arguing,” the woman was seen getting back into her vehicle and fleeing the scene “at a high rate of speed,” police wrote.
Investigators started looking into McKnight after witnesses said they had seen the woman and her vehicle at the business before and believed she was the mother of Christian’s child.
CMPD detectives used street and Flock cameras to track a 2003 Honda Accord matching the description of the vehicle that fled. The Accord was registered to McKnight, and a witness identified a photograph of it as the vehicle seen leaving the scene.
Union County sheriff’s deputies subsequently found the Honda near Wilkerson Drive in Indian Trail. McKnight was sitting in the passenger seat.
“I’m the one you’re looking for,” she allegedly told deputies.
The driver told detectives that McKnight had called her and said she “needed to turn herself in because she had done something bad.” Investigators also found blood inside and outside the Honda.
During a subsequent interview with detectives, McKnight allegedly acknowledged that Christian was the father of her child and said the two “frequently had arguments over child support.” She further confirmed she was at Tint World and that she and Christian got into a physical altercation.
“McKnight stated that at one point ‘he was on top and the next moment he was on the ground,'” police wrote.
A Tint World representative released a statement to Queen City News saying, in part: “The safety and well-being of our customers, employees, and community is our top priority. We are in full cooperation with local authorities as they investigate this matter, and we ask that any additional questions regarding the incident be directed to law enforcement.”
The post Mom ‘blocked’ child’s dad from leaving work, slapped and fatally stabbed him in front of multiple witnesses: Police first appeared on Law & Crime.
