Police interview: Lexington man was early suspect in fatal stabbing, but he wouldn’t confess
A Lexington man on trial for the fatal stabbing of an 82-year-old woman in 2016 listened Wednesday as an interview he gave to police following his arrest was played in court.
David Joel Williams, 42, is accused of stabbing Hilda Mae Pike repeatedly in 2016 and was indicted for a murder charge in August 2018 after Hilda Mae Pike died in July that year, about two years after she’d been attacked. Williams was also indicted on a charge of first-degree burglary.
The interview played Wednesday showed how police tried to get Williams to admit to the attack right after it happened. Former Lexington Police Department detective Chris Schoonover, who testified in court, interviewed Williams in 2016 and tried to get him to confess. He asked if Williams wanted to admit what he did or be a monster.
“Were you raised that way? Do you feel bad at all? What kind of person are you? I want to be able to tell people that you are a good person,” Schoonover said in the interview.
In August 2016, Williams broke into Pike’s Dogwood Drive home, awakened her and demanded money, police alleged. She told Williams she didn’t have any money, and he allegedly stabbed her more than a dozen times. He took a small amount of cash and her cell phone and ran off, police said.
Later in the afternoon after the attack occurred, Williams was interviewed by police, and adamantly denied — despite investigators’ best efforts — having anything to do with the robbery and stabbing.
Williams never admitted to having any part in the attack, according to former LPD detective Chris Schoonover, who testified Wednesday morning.
In a recording of the interview between Schoonover and Williams, Williams told police he was homeless, and sleeping in parks. The morning of the attack, he said he was walking around and showered at a friend’s house, but never stopped at Pike’s home.
There were scratches and cuts on his body at the time, which he alleged came from an attack by a woman in a park the night before, according to the interview. Williams said in the police interview he was in a park when a woman came out of a bathroom and began to scratch him. A man also approached Williams and attempted to stab him with a screwdriver, Williams said.
Schoonover wasn’t buying it. He pressed Williams and told him investigators “found tons of evidence,” and they “know (Williams) did it.”
Williams put a stop to the interview. He said police were trying to get him to admit something he didn’t do. He denied any involvement, and claimed he wasn’t aware of any attack that officers were referencing.
Williams wasn’t arrested at that time. He was detained a year after the assault, and was charged with assault and burglary. DNA evidence allegedly linked him to the attack on Pike at that time. The investigation revealed Williams had targeted Pike after she bought a vehicle from his family, police said.
The day of the attack, Schoonover testified police were able to locate Pike’s cell phone in a dumpster outside of a place Williams had stayed.
Prosecutors Katie Schaffer and James Judge suggested Pike’s death was a result of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, in addition to the injuries sustained during the assault, according to court documents.
But Williams’ attorney, Marcel Bush Radomile, questioned Rogers about Pike’s previous medical history dating back to the early 2000s. The defense’s argument appeared to be focused on medical issues that Pike allegedly had years leading up to the attack including arthritis, COPD, depression and anemia.
Closing statements were expected to take place Thursday.
