Man held in Las Vegas knife attacks allegedly linked to third killing

The stabbing death of a homeless man found on a Las Vegas sidewalk has been linked to a man accused in two other killings during a series of knife attacks, police said Monday. 

Christopher Stephen Martell, 33, was identified by police as the suspect in the killing of Jeffrey Philip Pridgen, 43.

Pridgen was found on Feb. 15, 2022 on a sidewalk not far from where the September attacks occurred on streets around the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He died of stab wounds to the head, neck and torso. 

His death was ruled a homicide. 

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Martell was arrested Sept. 21, 2022, after he attacked four people, killing two of them, authorities said. The victims were described as homeless. 

A woman in her 30s and an older man in a wheelchair were attacked on Flamingo Road minutes before Martell’s arrest, and police linked Martell to the killings a few days earlier of 57-year-old Jody Devries and 74-year-old Mary Susan Miller.

All four victims were described by authorities as homeless.

In October, he was deemed unfit to immediately face criminal charges following an evaluation to determine his fitness to face criminal charges in the September cases.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.