Post and Courier
CHARLESTON, S.C. — A 26-year-old woman is accused of killing a North Charleston man by plunging a knife into his chest during an argument at his Bexley Street home Sunday.
North Charleston police arrested Regina Carey of Bexley Street on a murder charge.
Tony Cleveland, 45, died of a single stab wound, according to Deputy Coroner Kimberly Rhoton of the Charleston County Coroner’s Office. She would not say where on the body Cleveland was wounded, but detectives in an affidavit said Cleveland had been stabbed one time in the left breast.
Magistrate Linda Lombard set no bail for Carey on Monday, as only circuit court judges can set bail on murder charges. No friends or family members attended the bond hearing on behalf of either Carey or the man police said she killed.
The details surrounding their dispute were vague on Monday.
Officers were dispatched Sunday morning to 1070 Bexley St. and found a woman applying pressure to Cleveland’s chest, an incident report states.
Cleveland, who was lying on the floor of an enclosed porch, did not appear to have a pulse, police said.
A witness told officers that the wounded man and the suspect had been arguing that morning.
Witnesses seemingly broke up the fight and Cleveland was rushed outside, according to the affidavit. He went back inside moments later and again confronted Carey. By then, she had grabbed a knife from the kitchen.
Witnesses tried in vain to separate the two. Cleveland fell to the ground, fatally struck with the knife, police said.
Paramedics transported Cleveland to Medical University Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.
Witnesses told police that Carey left the home with three young children before officers arrived. She discarded the bloodied knife in a neighboring wooded lot, according to the affidavit.
Carey was located in a traffic stop, and the children were found safe, Deputy Chief Scott Deckard said.
A woman who was at Cleveland’s home Monday said she believes Carey acted in self-defense.
“There’s always two sides to a story,” said the woman, who would not give her name. “And now her kids don’t have a mother because she’s in jail.”
Deckard said he did not have the particulars on what Carey and Cleveland argued about.
In this, and in most cases, he said, there are many different stories, speculation and interpretation about what occurred.
Who was the aggressor and whether Carey acted in self-defense are issues that will be worked out at trial, he said. “At this point, the information and evidence led us to charge Regina Carey with murder,” Deckard said in an email.
Sunday’s incident wasn’t Carey’s first run-in with the law. She was convicted on assault and battery charges in 2010 and 2011, State Law Enforcement Division records show. She also was arrested on an attempted murder charge in 2010, but The Post and Courier was unable to determine the disposition of that charge Monday.
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