Suspect identified in fatal stabbing
Victim’s comments reportedly led to attack
The man taken into custody by Wellton Station Border Patrol agents at the Interstate 8 Immigration Checkpoint late Saturday has been identified as 30-year-old Anthony Paul Kupreisis, who allegedly stabbed and killed a 57-year-old man in Peoria earlier in the day.
Agents arrested Kupreisis, who is now facing a first degree murder charge, after finding he had an active warrant for his arrest. He appeared before a Maricopa County Superior Court Judge on Wednesday and is being held on a $1 million cash bond. His next court appearance is Wednesday, Jan. 3.
At approximately 11:15 p.m. agents working at the immigration checkpoint, which is east of Yuma, referred the driver of a white Chevy Impala, now known to be Kupreisis, to the secondary inspection area after a canine alerted to an odor it was trained to detect.
During the inspection, agents conducted a records check which reveled he was wanted in connection to a homicide case in Peoria. They also found 17.5 grams of marijuana inside his vehicle.
According to spokesman Alfonso Zavala, Kupreisis was booked into the Yuma County jail on one count of first-degree murder on Sunday at 5:20 a.m., where he was subsequently interviewed by Peoria police.
He was turned over to Peoria police at 5:10 p.m. on Tuesday and returned to the Valley.
Court records indicate that Kupreisis has been charged in the fatal stabbing of Jeffrey Falesch, who was his mother’s boyfriend, at about 2:45 p.m. that day at a residence near 67th Avenue and Happy Valley Road.
Falesch was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced deceased. Kupreisis had fled the scene by the time officers arrived.
Court documents further indicated Falesch was in the kitchen wrapping cheese balls for a holiday party later that evening, and that is when Kupreisis’ mother apparently heard the victim say, “He’s (expletive) trying to kill me.”
When she ran to the kitchen she found Falesch, with what documents described as a hunting knife still embedded up to the hilt in his sternum. She immediately called 911.
Falesch lived with Kupreisis’ mother, Kupreisis did not live the couple and had his own residence, police said.
While in custody at the Yuma County jail, Kupreisis allegedly admitted to Peoria police detectives that had not planned to stab Falesch, but became angry when the victim told him there were no plans for Christmas Day.
Documents also stated that Kupreisis made repeated statements that ‘everyone was out to get him’ and he had a ‘feeling’ the victim was trying to kill both him and his mother.
James Gilbert can be reached at jgilbert@yumasun.com or 539-6854. Find him on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/ YSJamesGilbert or on Twitter @YSJamesGilbert.