Sylvester Taylor

A St. Louis man was charged with murder Friday, after prosecutors say he stabbed another man on July 19. Maray Carpenter, 39, of the 5800 block of Harney Avenue in St. Louis, was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. He is being held on a $500,000 cash-only bail. Officers responded around 10:44 p.m. to a call about a stabbing in the 5700 block of Helen Avenue, east of Jennings Station Road, where they found a man lying in the street with at least one stab wound. Police identified the victim as 35-year-old Sylvester Taylor of the 900 block of Thatcher Avenue in Ferguson. Prosecutors said in a probable cause statement that Carpenter and Taylor got into a heated argument that involved pushing and shoving. After the fight, Taylor returned to his car, and Carpenter went back inside his home. He came back out with a knife and stabbed Taylor in the chest. He died immediately at the hospital. After the stabbing, prosecutors said Carpenter fled down an alleyway, where officers found the knife, which matched a set of kitchen knives at Carpenter's house, with one knife missing from the set. Multiple witnesses identified Carpenter as the suspect, investigators said.