WESTBROOK – A suspect has been identified in the fatal stabbing Thursday night in Westbrook, and police have released a photo of the suspect that they say was on a cell phone left at the scene of the stabbing.

Police said the suspect, Tareek S. Hendricks, 30, of Worcester, Mass., who they said goes by the street name “BK,” is about 5-foot-8-inches tall and 200 pounds. He has the word “LIFE” tattooed on his left fingers. Police believe he was driven from the scene following the incident and dropped off along Washington Ave. in Portland.

Police are asking anyone with information on the identity of the suspect or his whereabouts to call Maine State Police at 657-3030 or 911.

Neighbors of Robert Stubbs, 40, of 73 Central St., who was stabbed inside his Central Street apartment Thursday night, say they heard a loud argument at the time of the incident, and saw a man flee in a vehicle. Stubbs died of multiple stab wounds, and his wife, Melissa Stubbs, 27, was wounded in the attack.

Police said the Stubbs’ had an argument with another man prior to the stabbing, which they say may be drug-related. Police said Kendricks and Stubbs knew each other and had spent “significant” time together the day of the attack.

The building is a two-story duplex, with number 73 marked on the apartment on the right side. In the other apartment, Johnny Price, 47, said he was home at the time, but didn’t know someone had been stabbed.

“That’s not what it sounded like,” he said.

Price said he heard a lot of “banging” that sounded like people wrestling on the building’s second floor. Then, he said, the commotion continued down the stairs.

“It sounded like 20 people were coming down the stairs,” he said.

But immediately afterward, Price said all he heard was a lot of yelling at the front door. Price said he recognized Stubbs’ voice, along with that of the woman, who Price said lived there, as well. Price said he also heard a third man arguing with them. Then, he said, “it got quiet.” The entire incident took about five or six minutes, he said.

Price heard both Stubbs and the woman talking to each other afterward, and said he assumed it was nothing more than a heated argument that was over. There was no screaming, or any other sound to indicate distress, Price said, which he would have expected to hear if someone had been badly hurt, so he didn’t call the police.

“That was what’s bothering me,” he said. “If I knew anything like that was going on, I would have gotten involved.”

Allen Hicks, 23, lives in a second-floor apartment at 78 Central St., nearly across from 73 Central St., and said he and his fiance?e heard and saw the argument out the front window.

“When we saw it, he was already on the porch, trying to get back in,” he said, referring to a man he saw yelling. Hicks said the man looked like he was trying to force his way in, shouting, “Gimme my (stuff).”

Eventually, Hicks said, the man left, crossing the street to a vehicle waiting for him, which then took off, heading in the direction of the Prospect Street end of Central Street. Hicks said he wasn’t sure what kind of vehicle it was, but it looked like a small to mid-sized SUV, like a Jeep or Chevrolet Blazer.

On Friday morning, neighbors expressed shock at the idea of someone being stabbed on their street. Most of the buildings are duplexes or small apartment buildings, and Cheryl Day, who owns a building at 94-96 Central St., said when she moved to the street in 1995, it had a bad reputation.

Back then, before a lot of what she called “riff-raff” moved away, she wouldn’t have been surprised to see something like this happen.

“Now I would, because there’s been so many new people coming in, children and families,” she said.

Danielle Taulbee, 32, who lives at 91 Central St. a few doors down from Stubbs, said she has only lived on the street about a month, but already she has gotten a sense of the community. She said she doesn’t know personal details about people on the street, but there is enough familiarity that she knows she can rely on them.

“Everybody doesn’t know everybody, but everybody look out for each other,” she said. “I know I could go across the street to my neighbors in an emergency.”

Taulbee said she grew up just outside Cleveland, and is the single mother of a six-year-old and a two-year-old. Before having children, she said violence on a street where she lives might have been less worrisome.

“It’s disturbing because now I’m a mom,” she said.

Carolyn Roukey, 42, said she has been living at 78 Central St. in the downstairs apartment for seven years, and also said the neighborhood was a quiet place, where kids are often seen playing.

“That’s why (the stabbing) was so shocking,” she said.

Roukey said the incident has prompted her to go out to buy new deadbolts for her doors.

Price said he is originally from Orlando, Fla., and has seen rough neighborhoods, but as to a stabbing next door to him, he said, “This is a new one for me.”

A suspect has been identified in the fatal stabbing Thursday night in Westbrook, and police have released a photo, above, of the suspect that they say was on a cell phone left at the scene of the stabbing. Police said the suspect, who they said goes by the street name “BK,” is about 5-foot-8-inches tall and 200 pounds. He has the word “LIFE” tattooed on his left fingers. Police believe he was driven from the scene and dropped off along Washington Ave. in Portland. (UPDATE: The suspect was apprehended Wednesday, July 11, 2012, in Syracuse, N.Y.)
Police continue their investigation Friday morning of the Thursday night stabbing death of Robert Stubbs, 40, at 73 Central St. Police said drugs may be involved. (Staff photo by Sean Murphy)