Portales man stabbed to death

Police were investigating an apparent stabbing Monday that ended in the death of a Portales man.

According to Capt. Lonnie Berry of the Portales Police Department, at approximately 5 p.m. Monday officers found Don Chapman inside a residence at 901 S. Main in Portales suffering from wounds and semi-concious. He was transported to Roosevelt General Hospital and later transferred by helicopter to a Lubbock hospital. He later died there.

Berry said police received a call from witnesses in the area who had seen a man with blood on his clothes. Officers made contact with the suspect a short time later and linked him back to the house were they found Chapman.

Berry said a suspect had been taken into custody but no charges had yet been filed. He said he believed there was only one suspect involved.

Berry said Chapman was in and out of consciousness when they arrived and wasn’t able to give police a lot of information.

“I do not believe it was a home invasion,” Berry said. “Witnesses thought they had seen the two talking together in the yard prior to the assault.”

Berry said police had a couple of items they were looking at as a possible weapon but he said police were reserving judgment on what was used in the assault until they were able to get inside the house.

Police had begun serving search warrants on the house around 8:30 p.m. Monday, Berry said.

“We’ve just got a lot of work ahead of us on this,” Berry said. “At this point it’s too early to comment much further.”

Berry said earlier in the day he did not believe it was related to a Friday morning shooting on S. Avenue E. He said no arrests have been made yet in that case but affidavits are being prepared.