YORK — Police are searching for a 32-year-old York man wanted in connection with Tuesday’s deadly stabbing on the 500 block of Wallace Street.
Jordan Mantilla, of Wallace Street, is charged with one count of criminal homicide in the death of Jason Markley, who was found bleeding from a stab wound to the chest at about 10:27 p.m. Markley was transported to York Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police say.
A witness told police he saw a light-skinned male, later identified as Mantilla, “do something” to the victim, who dropped the beer bottle he was holding, wobbled, and fell to the ground, according to a criminal complaint filed by York City Police. The suspect fled before the witness could get a good look at him, the witness said. The witness then attempted to help the victim and called 911, he told police.
A second witness, whom police identified in the complaint as Takeisha Fountain, told police Markley was on the 500 block of Wallace Street to sell her marijuana, after arranging the transaction with her via text message. She said Markley encountered two unknown subjects and began fighting with them. She provided a description of the clothes one of the subjects was wearing, but could not provide a description of the second subject, police say.
After the fight, the unknown subjects fled in opposite directions, the witness told police.
Police reviewed surveillance video images of the incident that showed a man matching the description provided by the first witness running from the scene, according to the criminal complaint. Police circulated still photos of the man to the media, the criminal complaint states.
A third witness, after seeing the photos, came forward and told police they recognized the man by the clothing he was wearing in the photos, the complaint says. The witness said that the night before the deadly stabbing, they were confronted by the suspect, who was wearing the same clothing he had on in the photos. The suspect allegedly confronted the witness with a knife, stating “I’m nice with a knife,” the witness reported.
After the confrontation, the witness said the man went into a convenience store on the 400 block of East Philadelphia Street. Detectives viewed surveillance footage from the store, and identified an image of the suspect as Mantilla, whom an investigator recognized from previous police investigations, the complaint states.
Mantilla is Fountain’s boyfriend and the father of her child, police said in the complaint. The couple lives together on the 500 block of Wallace Street, police say.
The first witness was shown still photos taken from surveillance footage from the convenience store and positively identified the clothing worn by Mantilla in the photo as the clothing worn by the subject he saw stab Markley, the complaint states.
