The Daily Southerner, Tarboro, NC

Local News

January 30, 2009

Stabbing suspect wanted in Edgecombe

T. J. ROYAL

A man who allegedly stabbed a Good Samaritan in Wilson County last week is wanted by Edgecombe County Sheriff's deputies in connection with two thefts in Macclesfield last year.

William Harvey Abrams Jr., 43, was charged Tuesday with two counts of breaking and entering and larceny, Edgecombe County Sheriff James Knight said. He allegedly broke into a storage building on Glover Road in Macclesfield on April 15 and allegedly stole catalytic converters at a business on N.C. 124 in Macclesfield on Nov. 4, Knight said.

Jeffrey Allen Webb, 31, of 925 Stallings Road in Macclesfield, was also charged with one count of breaking and entering and larceny in connection with the Nov. 4 incident.

In Wilson County, Abrams reportedly stabbed 64-year-old Willy Ray Gentilite of Wilson near his heart around midnight on Jan. 22, leaving Gentilite at his mobile home with the door padlocked.

According to reports, Wilson County authorities said Gentilite offered Abrams a place to stay at his N.C. 42 residence. But reports said the two allegedly had an argument over Abrams' alcohol use and behavior.

Reports said that Gentilite had written a note saying who had attacked him. He was treated for the cut on his chest, and a minor cut on his neck, at Wilson Medical Center and Pitt County Memorial Hospital in Greenville. He was released from Pitt Memorial and is expected to make a full recovery.

After the incident, Gentilite was found around 9:15 a.m. Friday by home repair workers who heard him calling for help, reports said.

Abrams reportedly took Gentilite's wallet, personal items and the keys to his 1985 Ford van, which Wilson County authorities found along with Abrams on Friday. Abrams resisted being taken into custody, as two Wilson County officers reportedly subdued him.

Wilson County authorities charged Abrams with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, felony larceny of a motor vehicle, misdemeanor larceny, resisting a public official and assault on a government employee.

He is being held in the Wilson County Jail under a $250,000 bond. Edgecombe County authorities placed a $1,000 bond on him for the two theft charges.

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