A: She got out of bed. Not all the way, she just threw the covers back, and swung her legs over the side, you know? Sitting, you know? I didn’t realize what was happening for a minute, and then I saw she was reaching for the phone. That’s got to be crazy, right? A guy is standing there in your bedroom with a knife in his hand, so she reaches for the phone.
Q: What did you do?
A: I grabbed her hand before she could get it. I pulled her off the bed, away from the phone, you know? And I told her again that nobody was going to hurt her, that I was getting out of there right away, to just please calm down.
Q: You said that?
A: What?
Q: You asked her to calm down?
A: I don’t know if those were the exact words, but I told her like to take it easy because I could see she was getting hysterical.
Q: Would you look at this photograph, please? Is this the bedroom you were in?
A: Yeah. There’s the night table with the phone on it, and there’s the window I went out. That’s the room.
Q: What happened next?
A: She started to scream.
Q: What did you do when she screamed?
A: I told her to stop. I was beginning to panic by now. I mean, she was really yelling.
Q: Did she stop?
A: No.
Q: What did you do?
A: I stabbed her.
Q: Where did you stab her?
A: I don’t know. It was a reflex. She was yelling, I was afraid the whole building would come down. I just . . . I just stuck the knife in her. I was very scared.
Q: Did you stab her in the chest?
A: No.
Q: Where?
A: The belly. Someplace in the belly.
Q: How many times did you stab her?
A: Once. She . . . she backed away from me, I’ll never forget the look on her face. And she . . . she fell on the floor.
Q: Would you look at this photograph, please?
A: Oh, Jesus.
Q: Is that the woman you stabbed?
A: Oh, Jesus. Oh, Jesus, I didn’t think . . . oh, Jesus.
Q: Is that the woman?
A: Yes. Yes, that’s her. Yes.
Q: What happened next?
A: Can I have a drink of water?
Q: Get him a drink of water. You stabbed her, and she fell to the floor. What happened next?
A: There was . . .
Q: Yes?
A: There was somebody at the door. I heard the door opening. Then somebody came in.
Q: Came into the apartment?
A: Yes. And yelled her name.
Q: From the front door?
A: I guess. From someplace at the other end of the apartment.
Q: Called her name?
A: Yeah. He yelled, “Sarah!” and when he got no answer, he yelled, “Sarah, it’s me, I’m home.”
Q: Then what?
A: I knew I was trapped. I couldn’t go out the way I come in because this guy was home. So I ran past the . . . the woman where she was laying on the floor . . . Jesus . . . and I tried to open the window, but it was stuck. So I smashed it with the airlines bag and . . . I didn’t know what to do . . . I was on the second floor, how was I going to get out? I threw the bag down first because I figured no matter what happened I was going to need bread for another fix, and then I climbed through the broken window—I cut my hand on a piece of glass—and I hung down from the sill, scared to let go, and finally I let go, I had to let go.
Q: Yes?
A: I must’ve dropped a mile, it felt like a mile. The minute I hit, I knew I busted something. I tried to get up, and I fell right down. My ankle was killing me, my hand was bleeding. I must’ve been in that alley ten, fifteen minutes, trying to stand up, falling down, trying again. I finally made it. I finally got out of that alley.
Q: Where did you go?
A: Through the basement and up to the street. The way I come in.
Q: And where did you go from there?
A: I took the subway home. To Riverhead. I turned on the radio right away to see if there was anything about . . . about what I done. But there wasn’t. So I tried to go to sleep, but the ankle was very bad, and I needed a fix. I went to see Dr. Mendelsohn in the morning because I figured it was like life or death, you know what I mean? If I couldn’t get around, how was I going to make a connection?
Q: When did you visit Dr. Mendelsohn?
A: Early. Nine o’clock. Nine A . M .
Q: Is he your family physician?
A: I never saw him before in my life. He’s around the corner from where I live. That’s the only reason I picked him, because he was close. He strapped up the ankle, but it didn’t do no good. I
Q: When did you learn that Mrs. Fletcher was dead?
A: I bought a newspaper on the way home from the doctor’s. The story was in it. That’s when I knew I killed her.
Q: You did not know until then?
A: I did not know how bad it was.
