MALDEN, Mass. — Joshua Roush, 43, of Malden is under arrest, charged with murder and being held without bail for the fatal stabbing of a roommate Sunday night.
At about 10 p.m. Sunday, Malden Police, responding to a 911 call, found the victim on the sidewalk of 19 Presley St. suffering from severe stab wounds. The victim died on the sidewalk.
Witnesses told police they heard two men loudly arguing inside 19 Presley Street and identified Roush as one of the men involved in the fight.
One witness told police they saw Rousch use a large stick to push the victim out of the apartment’s front door. The witness said they saw the victim struggle on the front steps, call out for help and then collapse on his back on the sidewalk.
The first responding officer described a gruesome scene: the victim suffering severe stab wounds to his head and legs. The officer wrote in a police report he thought one of the victim’s legs was severed.
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Roush was eventually taken into custody after Malden Police Chief Kevin Molis negotiated his surrender over a cell phone. At Malden Police Headquarters, a prosecutor said Roush told them the victim rented a room for him at his apartment, but Roush said he did not know what happened to the victim.
In a criminal complaint, a police officer wrote that large amounts of blood were found throughout the apartment.
In court, a prosecutor said Roush has a history of convictions for violent crimes. Among them, a conviction for second-degree attempted murder with a hammer in Tennessee. Rousch served an 11-year sentence in a Tennessee prison for that conviction.
Roush is ordered held without bail. His case will next appear in Malden District Court on September 29.
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