Wilkes neighborhood stabbing victim dies

UPDATE: SUSPECT CAPTURED; IN CUSTODY! The result of this deadly crime has shaken up residents of the far outer NE Portland apartment complex where it happened – but the motive remains unclear. Here’s what we’ve learned …

In the parking lot of an apartment complex in the Wilkes Neighborhood, police find a man dying of stab wounds.

By David F. Ashton, photos by Desmond Moore
In the darkness of the early morning hours of July 12, one man is said to have stabbed and killed another man, following a disturbance in the parking lot of the Village Garden Apartments – at 15278 NE Sandy Boulevard.

Portland Police Bureau (PPB) North Precinct officers rolled to the scene at 12:21 a.m. and found an adult male victim, later identified as 40-year-old Dion Anthony Matthews, suffering from critical injuries, according to PPB Public Information Officer Sgt. Peter Simpson.

Behind police lines, officers talk with witnesses and gather information at the crime scene.

“Medical personnel responded to the scene but could not save the man’s life, and he died at the scene,” Simpson added about this mid-County crime.

Searching for the suspect – said to have left on foot heading east, and described as an African American male adult, wearing light colored clothing, and possibly plaid shorts – officers and a Police K-9 Unit tried to sniff out the perpetrator, but to no avail.

“A homicide concerns neighbors, and it can shake people’s feelings of security,” Simpson told reporters. “Right now we don’t feel there is an immediate danger to the neighborhood, but we are continuing our investigation.”

Investigators gather what scant forensic data they can at the crime scene.

UPDATE

On July 16, at 9:00 a.m., the U.S. Marshals Oregon Fugitive Task Force made an arrest in this case.

“Witnesses at the scene provided critical information to PPB North Precinct and Gang Enforcement Team officers and Homicide detectives,” Sgt Simpson said. “This cooperation from witnesses was critical to solving this case.”

Police accuse this man, 43-year-old Michael Dvon Leonard, of the murder.

43-year-old Michael Dvon Leonard of Northeast Portland was arrested in connection with the homicide of Dion Anthony Matthews.

“Leonard was arrested without incident at NE 159^th Avenue and Sandy Boulevard,” Simpson stated.

Leonard was booked into the Multnomah County Jail at 4:14 p.m. and being held, without bail, on one count of Murder. He will be arraigned on Tuesday in Multnomah County Court.

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