SALT LAKE CITY — An Arizona hitchhiker who is a suspect in a homicide in that state has been charged in Utah for allegedly stabbing a woman who offered him a ride.
Fernando Ray White, 38, of Sacaton, Arizona, was charged Friday in Millard County’s 4th District Court with attempted murder, a first-degree felony; possession of a firearm by a restricted person, a second-degree felony; two counts of drug distribution, a second-degree felony; and drug possession, a class B misdemeanor.
On Tuesday, Millard County sheriff’s deputies were called to Fillmore Hospital about 4:15 a.m. on a report of a woman who had been stabbed seven times, according to a Millard County Jail booking affidavit.
“The victim had a wound to her cheek, mouth with two chipped teeth, wound to the neck, wound to the right hand, two wounds to the left forearm, and one wound to the left upper arm,” the arresting officer wrote in his affidavit.
The woman told detectives that she and her sister picked up a hitchhiker, White, and dropped him off on the side of I-15 about five miles south of Fillmore, the affidavit states.
Details about the alleged attack were not immediately available.
Deputies located White near I-15 and arrested him. A knife was found in the area where police initially saw him standing, according to the affidavit. White was also in possession of drugs and “a loaded 9mm 30-round magazine” in his pocket, the affidavit states.
According to the affidavit, White “is currently on probation in Arizona and is a person of interest for a homicide case in Arizona.”