Background: News footage captures the location where Michael James O’Malley was discovered deceased in Van Buren, Arkansas, in April (KFSM). Inset (left): Image of Michael James O’Malley (Ocker-Putman Funeral Home). Inset (right): Image of Anthony Lee Tabor (Crawford County Sheriff’s Office).
An Arkansas teenager is set to appear in court after he allegedly stabbed a man to death after a fight then fled the scene in a stolen car.
Anthony Lee Tabor, 19, faces charges of second-degree murder and theft stemming from an April incident resulting in the death of 34-year-old Michael James O’Malley. As detailed in a probable cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime, authorities were alerted to conduct a welfare check on a man — later identified as O’Malley — discovered on the roadside in Van Buren. The individual, found with a stab wound in his chest, was confirmed dead at the scene.
The investigation carried out by the Van Buren Police Department revealed that multiple witnesses had observed O’Malley and Tabor in a physical altercation earlier that day.
Police said that according to witnesses who saw the physical altercation between Tabor and O’Malley in the early morning hours of April 6, Tabor “struck” O’Malley at one point, causing the alleged victim to “make a high pitch scream and fall backwards.” One witness told police that after landing the alleged blow to O’Malley, Tabor returned to the vehicle he arrived in — which authorities say was stolen from Little Rock, some 150 miles southeast of Van Buren — and yelled, “I’m a real deal killa!” before driving away.
According to the affidavit, one witness called 911 to report the altercation. Another witness can be heard in the background of the call saying, “[H]e just stabbed that dude.”
Robert Snider, a witness to the alleged altercation, spoke to local CBS affiliate KSFM and described the fight to the station. Snider said, “When I tell you they were fighting, they were fighting. One guy was on top of the other, slamming his head into the curb.”
Snider told KSFM that he had seen the fight while driving and pulled over to attempt to intervene and separate the two men. He initially called 911 at 2:47 a.m., but dispatchers and officers reportedly said they could not find anyone at the scene.
The affidavit stated that O’Malley’s body was found at 11:20 a.m. on April 6. The Arkansas State Crime Lab medical examiner determined his cause of death to be a stab wound to the chest; the manner of death was ruled to be homicide.
The car Tabor allegedly drove to and from the scene of the crime was later found at the apartment complex where he lives. A knife was also found near Tabor’s apartment.
According to reporting by the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Tabor was already in custody for the theft charge when he was charged with O’Malley’s murder. He is being held at the Crawford County Detention Center on $255,000. He is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday.
