Detectives looking for witness who tried to intervene in deadly Sacramento stabbing
Homicide detectives are asking the public to help identify a witness who tried to intervene when an 18-year-old man was stabbed to death outside a south Sacramento bank in January, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.
Roosevelt Hardley, a transient man, was arrested on suspicion of murder in the stabbing of Joshua Thavisack. On Wednesday, Hardley, 64, remains in custody at the Sacramento County Jail.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Tess Deterding said the detectives were still investigating the fatal stabbing, but they needed help identifying the witness, who left before deputies could speak to him. The Sheriff’s Office released security camera video of the unidentified witness at the scene.
Around 10 p.m. on Jan. 16, someone called 911 to report the stabbing outside the Wells Fargo Bank near Florin Road and Stockton Boulevard, just a few blocks east of Highway 99. Thavisack’s family has told The Sacramento Bee that the young man was with his aunt, who also was stabbed that night but survived.
In a Jan. 17 GoFundMe post, one of Thavisack’s sisters wrote that her brother was going to deposit money at bank after work, when he got into an argument with a man wielding a kitchen knife in the parking lot.
Deterding said deputies responded to the call reporting the stabbing and the suspect was still at the scene. The deputies arrived and found Thavisack injured. She didn’t indicate whether Thavisack had been stabbed more than once. He was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The witness seen in the security camera video arrived in his truck and tried to intervene in the confrontation between Hardley and Thavisack, Deterding said.
Hardley was later arrested, and prosecutors have since formally charged him with murder and assault with a deadly weapon. He’s scheduled to return to Sacramento Superior Court on April 1.
Investigators ask anyone who has information about the witness seen in the video to call sheriff’s detectives at 916-874-5115. The public can also submit a confidential tip through the sheriff’s website at sacsheriff.com.
