Neighbor: Suspect shouting at scene
Man arrested on suspicion of killing his brother
An Arcata man arrested on suspicion of fatally stabbing his brother repeatedly screamed his own name from behind a barricade at an 11th Street residence before surrendering to police, neighbors said Monday.
The Arcata Police Department said Jacob Eli Steichen, a 34-yearold Arcata resident, was arrested Sunday night and booked on suspicion of homicide into the Humboldt County jail, where he is being held.
Police said Steichen and the victim, a 39-year-old man, were siblings, but declined to release victim’s full name before notifying the rest of his family.
Emergency responders attempted to save the victim’s life at the scene before taking him to Mad River Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police said Steichen barricaded himself at the 11th Street residence. Crisis negotiators arrived and spoke to Steichen for around an hour before he surrendered to the police.
Before police arrived Sunday night, a woman who lives next door to the scene said she heard very loud screaming.
“I heard them screaming that someone had been stabbed,” said the woman, who declined to provide her full name and said she did not know the neighbors in question. “I definitely heard a woman screaming, ‘He’s not breathing!’ It was very frantic and chaotic-sounding.”
The woman said she also heard the suspect screaming his own name in a strange accent.
“He kept saying, over and over, ‘I’m Jacob Eli something! I’m not speaking to anyone until I have my lawyer present,’ “the woman said.
Detective Sgt. Chris Ortega, the Arcata officer assigned to the case, did not respond to requests Monday to confirm the neighbors’ accounts.
Both the woman and another neighbor saw police cars parked at the residence one week prior to Sunday’s fatal stabbing incident.
“There were two cop cars there, without their sirens or lights on,” said neighbor Nick DiSante. “They were there for like three hours before they left.”
During the incident last week, the female neighbor said she heard another person at the residence pleading with police that “her brother was mentally ill and wasn’t going to like police showing up like this.”
Detective Sgt. Chris Ortega, the Arcata policeman assigned to the case, did not respond to a request Monday to confirm the neighbors’ accounts.