Missouri man charged with murder for fatal stabbing outside Belle Tire
A St. Louis, Missouri resident has been charged with open murder in connection with the fatal stabbing of a Flint man outside a Belle Tire store in Troy this week.
Jerome Perry-Bey, 41, was arraigned Thursday in 52-4 District Court for the slaying of Carlos Contreras, 38, whose body was found at around 7 a.m. Monday outside the business at 4966 Rochester Rd. by employees arriving for work. An autopsy determined he died from a single stab wound to the chest.
Police recovered a bloody knife from the scene.
Troy police officers, with the assistance of the Flint Police Department, identified Perry-Bey as a suspect soon afterward and subsequently took him into custody.
During an interview with Troy police in Flint, PerryBey confessed to stabbing Contreras during a physical fight outside the Belle Tire store, police said.
Perry-Bey reportedly told police that he and Contreras had been traveling from the Pontiac area to Detroit on Sunday night, and while passing through Troy on Rochester Road they began to argue. They pulled over in the parking lot and a struggle occurred outside the vehicle, during which Perry-Bey allegedly said he pulled a knife from his jacket pocket and stabbed Contreras in the upper chest. Contreras was reportedly unarmed.
Perry-Bey then reportedly fled the scene in the vehicle, police said.
Perry-Bey had been staying in the Flint area during the past few weeks, police said, and may have fled there to avoid arrest on a pending felony weapons charge in the St. Louis area, police said.
Bond was denied at arraignment. Perry-Bey’s next court appearance is scheduled for March 4 before Judge Kirsten Nielsen Hartig.