Police Investigating Deadly Stabbing in Bella Vista

A Bella Vista man is behind bars after police say he stabbed a woman to death early Saturday morning.

Police were called to 12 Thaxted Drive at 6:17 a.m. and when they arrived they found a 46-year-old woman with multiple stab wounds, and Leon Lincoln Jr. with a minor wound to the hand.

Paramedics took both people to Mercy Hospital, where the woman later died from her wounds, according to Police Chief Ken Farmer.

Lincoln Jr. was treated and released, and then immediately arrested, Farmer says.

"He's currently being held in the Benton County jail on a charge of first degree murder," Farmer says. "They were cohabitants. At this time I don't have details on the relationship between the two."

Neighbor Nick Scott says he's seen police at the home before, but he's shocked to hear about the stabbing.

"Everybody gets along real good," he says. "(I) didn't really expect anything like this at all."

It isn't just a quiet neighborhood, it's a quiet city. Chief Farmer says he hasn't investigated a homicide here in more than 20 years.

"It's a very unusual occurrence, in Bella Vista," he says. "We do have our domestic disputes and all, but I think that the last time we had an actual homicide inside the limits of Bella Vista was about 1990."

Police are interviewing witnesses, and plan to release more information as it becomes available.

"Details are still a little bit sketchy," Farmer says. "We're still at the house trying to piece it together, looks like we'll be there for some time."