Victim identifies stabber

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Police arrested a Santa Barbara man on suspicion of attempted murder during an investigation of a stabbing that occurred on San Andres Street on Sunday evening.
At 7:11 p.m., authorities received a call from a resident at 1827 San Andres St. and found a 21-year-old man with a stab wound to his stomach in the front yard of the house, Sgt. Lorenzo Duarte of the Santa Barbara Police Department said.

The caller, Kenneth Warfield Sterling, 65, denied any knowledge of the incident and became uncooperative with the investigation. According to police documents, officers searched the area for blood trails leading to the home, or other evidence, but found none.
“Sterling became very uncooperative to the point that he would not even give the police his date of birth,” according to a police report. “After the initial contact with Sterling by the police, Sterling went inside the house and he was seen washing off a knife and putting it away in a drawer.”
That knife, seized later after police obtained a search warrant, is believed to be the weapon involved in the assault, Sgt. Duarte said.
Sterling also had what appeared to be blood on his shirt and feet, according to police records, and the front yard of the residence had signs of a struggle, such as broken plants and items thrown to the ground.
Authorities took the victim, who remains unidentified, to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, where he was sent to surgery upon arrival with a life-threatening injury.
Sgt. Duarte said detectives spoke with the victim yesterday after his condition had stabilized.
“He identified Sterling as the individual who stabbed him,” Sgt. Duarte said in a news release. “The motive for the stabbing is unknown and the investigation is continuing.”
Sterling is being held at County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail for attempted murder. The victim remains in the intensive care unit at Cottage Hospital and is recovering from his wound.