Hester surrenders, confesses to stabbing

THOMASVILLE — A man sought by Thomasville police in a Monday stabbing surrendered Thursday afternoon and landed precisely where he did not want to go.

Derrick L. Hester, 31, 213 Magnolia St., confessed to stabbing a man at a Junius Street residence Monday night. The victim, who has been released from Archbold Memorial Hospital, was stabbed twice in the back and once in the left chest.

The stabbing occurred during a confrontation between Hester and the victim.

Hester has been charged with aggravated assault in the stabbing. He was wanted on a probation-violation warrant for a previous aggravated assault conviction.

“He said he just needed to come up and take care of this, because the whole truth had not been told,” said Sgt. Melven Johnson, assistant commander of the Thomasville Police Department Criminal Investigations Division (CID).

Johnson said Hester was hesitant to surrender because of the outstanding warrant.

“He didn’t necessarily want to go to jail right now. That’s the way he put it to us,” Johnson said.

Jail is where Hester was Friday afternoon and apparently where he will remain for a while. Bond was denied.

Meanwhile, CID detectives searched — to no avail — Friday morning for the knife believed to have been used in the stabbing.

The suspect told detectives he threw the knife in the yard where the stabbing took place.



Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 220.