Man gets 18 years prison for fatal scissors stabbing Bank robbery suspect armed with knife arrested

A man who fatally stabbed his housemate in the neck with a pair of scissors three years ago in University City was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in state prison.

Brandon Ganskow, 37, pleaded guilty in San Diego Superior Court to voluntary manslaughter in the July 8, 2019, slaying of Kevin Crosthwaite, 56.

Ganskow killed Crosthwaite at the victim’s Bothe Avenue home, where Ganskow had been residing. He had been convicted previously of assault with a deadly weapon for holding a knife to Crosthwaite’s neck.

Ganskow was placed on probation in the assault case, and a protective order was imposed.

Deputy District Attorney Matthew Greco described the victim as a man with “a big heart” who “had seen the best in the defendant.”

The prosecutor said Crosthwaite, who apparently didn’t feel that the defendant posed a danger to him, had petitioned for Ganskow to live with him while Ganskow’s previous criminal case was pending.

On Thursday, Ganskow was sentenced to two years in prison for the assault case, which will be served concurrently with the 18-year manslaughter sentence.

A man armed with a knife robbed a bank teller late Tuesday morning in Chula Vista, but police officers responding to an earlier call about the same man quickly arrested him, police said.

The first 911 caller, who phoned police some time before noon, reported a man with a knife in the area of Third Avenue and Moss Street, police Sgt. Anthony Molina said in a news release.

As officers were responding to that call, a teller from the Wells Fargo on

Third Avenue between K and L streets — about two blocks from the first call — phoned 911 and reported a robbery at the branch, Molina said. The bank employee provided a description of the bandit and said he was armed with a large knife, made off with cash and was last seen heading north on Third Avenue.

An officer already responding to the area for the first call headed toward the bank and spotted a man with a knife outside a Jack in the Box restaurant just north of the bank, Molina said. Officers detained the man, who they believed matched the description of the robber, and witnesses from the bank later identified him as the robber.

Chula Vista police arrested the man, a 58-year-old San Diego resident, and booked him into county jail on suspicion of a felony robbery count. Online jail records showed he remained in custody Tuesday night in lieu of $100,000 bail.