Columbus woman was wanted in earlier stabbing when she killed boyfriend, cops say
Vivian Denise Fletcher already was wanted by police for stabbing boyfriend Antonio Zarie Blanding months before she stabbed him again last summer, killing him, a detective testified Monday in Columbus Recorder’s Court.
Detective Matt Sitler said police had made “numerous attempts” to find Fletcher after the first assault, in which police obtained warrants for her arrest in March 2020.
Investigators disseminated photos of Fletcher to local media, hoping that she would surrender or that someone could tip police to her whereabouts, but neither occurred, Sitler said.
Fletcher, who apparently had left town, returned Aug. 8 to confront Blanding and others here about an earlier dispute, threatening some of the people with whom she was upset, the detective said.
Sitler said a witness was with Blanding around 2:30 a.m. that day at 32nd Avenue and Cusseta Road when Fletcher walked up and stabbed him again.
Paramedics were unable to revive him, and Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan pronounced him dead at the scene at 3:01 a.m. Blanding was 31, and the father of six children, relatives said.
Police got a warrant charging Fletcher with murder, but she again left town, authorities said. She was captured March 3 in Levy County, Florida, and returned to Columbus on April 30, Sitler said.
The 35-year-old still faces charges of aggravated assault and using a knife in a crime from Blanding’s earlier assault, Siter said. Fletcher’s attorney, Shevon Sutcliffe Thomas, asked that a hearing on those counts be held at 2 p.m. Monday. Her hearing in the murder case was at 9 a.m.
Thomas asked Judge Julius Hunter to dismiss the case, arguing the witness who, police say, saw the stabbing was not there to testify, so police had not established probable cause that a crime occurred.
Prosecutor Nicholas Hud countered that Sitler’s testimony was sufficient to show police have an eyewitness, and such hearsay evidence is acceptable in a preliminary hearing.
Hunter agreed, sending the case to Muscogee Superior Court and ordering Fletcher to have no contact with the victim’s family. She is being held without bond.
Second hearing
During Fletcher’s 2 p.m. hearing in the earlier assault case, police Cpl. Emmanuel Rosado testified a resident of Southside Court apartments called police at 11:30 p.m. March 2, 2020, to report Blanding was injured.
The woman calling 911 told police she had heard loud arguing outside her home before finding Blanding had been cut. Blanding told officers he and Fletcher had a dispute, and he tried to walk away before it escalated, Rosado testified.
The detective said Blanding told investigators Fletcher ran at him and attacked him with “an unknown sharp object,” leaving cuts and scrapes on his neck, shoulder, chest and upper back.
Fletcher faced charges of aggravated assault and using a knife to commit a crime, in that case, but Thomas moved to dismiss the knife charge, because no one could say the “unknown sharp object” was actually a knife.
“There is no evidence that a knife is present,” the attorney said.
Thomas objected also to the aggravated assault charge, saying the description of Blanding’s injuries did not sound like stab wounds, and more like superficial cuts and scrapes that would justify only a misdemeanor battery charge.
“They appeared to be stab wounds,” Rosado told the court, later noting a police report on the incident specified that Blanding “sustained a stab wound.”
Hud, the prosecutor, asked Judge Hunter to drop the knife charge, as a grand jury later can include it in an indictment after reviewing the evidence.
Hunter dismissed that charge, but found probable cause to send the aggravated assault case on to Muscogee Superior Court.
This story was originally published May 24, 2021 at 12:01 PM.