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Background: The building on the 1400 block of Market Street in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where the stabbing took place (WHP/YouTube). Inset: Dalaysia Terrell-Brown (Harrisburg Bureau of Police).
A Pennsylvania teenager is facing serious charges after allegedly stabbing her boyfriend to death, with social media posts reportedly foreshadowing the tragic event. The posts allegedly depicted her holding a knife.
Seventeen-year-old Dalaysia Terrell-Brown has been charged with murder. In addition, she faces misdemeanor charges for possessing a weapon with intent to use it and for having drug paraphernalia, according to court documents reviewed by Law&Crime. Her preliminary court appearance took place on Tuesday.
The victim was identified by area CBS affiliate WHP as 18-year-old Tamar Shaw.
The incident occurred on Monday at a residence on the 1400 block of Market Street in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s capital, where Terrell-Brown and her boyfriend, Tamar Shaw, were together.
That evening, Terrell-Brown contacted the Harrisburg Bureau of Police, reporting that a man was “losing blood” and requesting an ambulance but not police assistance, according to a report by NBC affiliate WGAL.
Police arrived at the scene just before 11 p.m. and found Shaw seated while Terrell-Brown applied a bloody white towel to his chest. Shaw was immediately transported to a nearby hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries.
When investigators spoke with Terrell-Brown, she reportedly told them that she and Shaw were in bed when he asked for a kitchen knife to cut papers to roll marijuana. According to authorities, she suggested that the knife may have been wrapped in blankets on the bed.
The defendant continued with her account of events, saying she was sitting on top of Shaw when “she went to move the blankets,” and he “yelled out in pain,” court documents state. When he went to see what happened and removed his shirt, “blood began spurting out of the wound.”
Terrell-Brown allegedly conceded that she and her boyfriend had argued earlier that day but that there was no such feud at the time of the incident.
Left and right: Videos reportedly posted to Instagram by Dalaysia Terrell-Brown show her allegedly threatening her boyfriend with a knife (WHP/YouTube).
When a Crime Stoppers tip came in, investigators had a whole new element to the case.
Terrell-Brown had allegedly posted videos the night before the incident showing her holding a knife and thrusting it in the direction of another person, ostensibly Shaw. The caption on the video reads in part, “cut that wrist up,” with laughing emojis.
Another video obtained by WHP contains the caption “let this be a warning” with a double exclamation point emoji.
An autopsy was conducted after Shaw died and ruled his death a homicide, finding that “The stab wound entered the chest cavity and this would require significant force,” per WGAL.
Terrell-Brown was arrested and booked into jail without bail. She is expected to return to court on April 20 for a preliminary hearing.