Witness: Fight over beer, smokes led to fatal stabbing in Warren

The defendant and the dead man spent time in a corner gas station every day, one man said.

By Ed Runyan

WARREN — Mike Ennab had a feeling something bad was going to happen, but he never dreamed someone would die.

As long-time manager of the USA Gas Mart on North Park Avenue in a high-crime neighborhood a half mile north of Courthouse Square, he recognized the warning signs.

His friend, Craig A. Holliday, 39, a sometimes homeless man who stayed with a friend at 832 North Park — the house next to the store — was sitting on the steps of his house, drinking beer at about 11:20 p.m. Tuesday. Ennab said he knew that would “attract the drunks” to hang around, too.

He asked Holliday to come over to the store and help him close up. Holliday sometimes helped mop up or do other jobs, but this time he didn’t want to.

“Yesterday he had a hard head,” Ennab said Wednesday morning, adding that Holliday had been hanging around with another neighorhood regular, Melanie Ferrell, 37, of nearby Washington Street.

“He was hugging her. She was hugging him,” Ennab said.

A while later, Ennab looked out and saw that Holliday had taken off his shirt and was standing on the gas station parking lot next to his house.

Ennab knew that Holliday taking his shirt off meant he was in a fight. He could see Ferrell — a woman who comes into his store every day — was involved.

“I yelled at them, ‘You both better get the hell out of there,’ “ Ennab said.

Ennab didn’t see what happened next, but Holliday’s roommate, Darryll Albright, told Warren police that Holliday nearly stabbed Ferrell in the chest with a tool he carries, and Ferrell pulled out a knife from under her shirt and stabbed Holliday in the chest.

When a police officer arrived, Ferrell told the officer: “I can’t believe I stabbed him” and was taken to the police station for questioning. Ambulance personnel could not revive Holliday, who had collapsed in his bathroom.

“I wish he would have listened to me, I swear to God, that dummy,” Ennab said Wednesday morning in the store, his head low.

“I really don’t believe it yet,” Ennab said. “He has a good heart. He helped everybody.”

Ferrell is now in the Trumbull County jail in lieu of $500,000 bond, charged with murdering Holliday.

Holliday did drink every day, sometimes got into fights and sometimes “talked a lot,” but those who knew him weren’t bothered by his personality, Ennab said.

Albright also told police that Holliday and Ferrell had been arguing all day about beer and cigarettes and that Holliday was “keeping the argument going and being aggressive” toward Ferrell.

The stabbing occurred at about 11:45 p.m., Albright said.

Warren Municipal Court records show that Holliday was convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence four times since 1995, including once in 2007. None of the cases apparently involved Ferrell. His conviction record also included misdemeanor convictions for violating a protection order, assault and disorderly conduct.

Ferrell’s criminal record in Warren includes convictions for carrying a concealed weapon, possessing drug paraphernalia, negligent assault and obstruction of official business.

Ferrell was video arraigned Wednesday in Warren Municipal Court, where Judge Terry Ivanchak entered an innocent plea for her to the murder charge. The charge carries a penalty of three to 10 years in prison.

runyan@vindy.com