Video reportedly surfaces of fatal stabbing of David Josiah Lawson
Arcata police chief: ‘ We really need people to come forward’
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A video from the night of a fatal stabbing at an Arcata house party in 2017 reportedly surfaced in July of this year.
David Josiah Lawson’s mother, Michelle- Charmaine Lawson, posted on Facebook at the time someone reached out to inform her they had a video of her son’s stabbing. The individual was afraid to reach out, but was inspired to do so after seeing an earlier post featuring four women who were allegedly involved in the fatal stabbing.
“Seeing these four again brought him to tears; he cannot stay silent anymore,” Lawson wrote. “This is what my family has been waiting for.”
But the coronavirus pandemic has made it hard to move past that point. Lawson herself has not seen the video or been able to come to Humboldt County to meet with the person who allegedly has it.
“I think it’s been over six months since I’ve been in Humboldt,” she told the Times- Standard this month.
But she looks forward to the day when she can return to the area.
“I can’t give up hope,” she said. “I can’t. I know that someone saw what took place that night and I know someone knows exactly what happened. Just to know that there is a video out there, you know, it is going to be difficult to watch, but I need that video in my hands to be able to take it to the right people, to get my son’s case prosecuted, and to get a conviction.”
Local law enforcement officials have not seen any video either.
“We have now heard on multiple occasions that non-police video relevant to the Lawson homicide exists, but neither the Arcata Police Department nor our office has received any video,” Humboldt County District Attorney Maggie Fleming wrote in an email to the Times-Standard.
Arcata Police Chief Brian Ahearn confirmed he has “not seen it” and he encouraged locals to come forward with any information.
“We really need people to come forward,” he said in mid-December. “… We’re trying to encourage people in their own space to come forward.”
Lawson said the pandemic has also delayed efforts to share coats and supplies with local lowincome college students that are collected as part of a coat drive in Lawson’s name. She was excited that she can offer gift cards to “DJ’s favorite restaurant” In-N- Out among other locations.
“I have tons of stuff to give to our students at HSU and College of the Redwoods and just our unhoused population — anyone that is in need,” she said. “We are going to give back in DJs memory”