Charges expected in fatal Southington stabbing

Charges expected in fatal Southington stabbing

WARREN

Police expect today to charge Thomas J. Starr, 28, with the murder of his mother’s boyfriend, Jeffrey L. Westfall, 53, and attempted murder of his mother, Lisa M. Frye, 46, at the home Starr, Westfall and Frye shared at 5435 state Route 305 in Southington.

Police say Starr, who previously lived in West Farmington, stabbed Westfall and Frye in the neck with a knife at about 10 p.m. Saturday. Starr had military training and stabbed each of the victims just once in the neck. His mother remains in satisfactory condition in a Cleveland hospital.

Major Thomas Stewart of the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office said Starr had been living with his mother and Westfall, but they had been trying to get him to move out for about four months.

Police found Westfall dead on the front porch of the house, which is just west of U.S. Route 422. After being stabbedk Frye went to the road, where a passerby noticed her, bleeding heavily, and called 911.

Dr. Humphrey Germankiuk, Trumbull County coroner, ruled Westfalls’s death a homicide, with the cause pending further investigation.

A search of Trumbull County records shows Starr had only one previous run-in with the law, in 2002, when he was convicted of criminal damaging for throwing another young man’s bicycle into a fire.

He was placed on probation and ordered to pay $150 restitution. Starr was living in West Farmington, where the incident took place.