Linda Hott knew something wasn't right when she heard the screams that warm May night near her home in Trafford. They weren't the typical street noises that sometimes kept her awake.
"I got woke up by a fight on Cavitt," she wrote in her journal. "Stop! stop!" came the screams, followed by a string of vulgarities.
She decided she'd call the police. She'd had enough.
"It ended up someone got stabbed and died an hour later. I hope it wasn't the man with the little boys," Hott wrote.
A former Trafford man who once owned a candy store on Cavitt Avenue was arrested in Spokane Valley, Wash., Wednesday in connection with the fatal stabbing of Christopher Helveston on May 18.
Michael Eric Zeravica, 21, of 4917 E. 14th St., Spokane Valley, Wash., was arrested on a Washington state charge of being a fugitive from justice and lodged in the Spokane County Jail.
Westmoreland County detectives John W. Clark and Mark Zupan are in Spokane to bring Zeravica back to face charges in the stabbing death of Helveston, 26, of 309 Cavitt Ave. Helveston had twin sons and lived two doors from Hott's building.
Zeravica is being held without bond and will be extradited as soon as air travel can be arranged, said Spokane County Sheriff's Cpl. Dave Reagan.
Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck said he understands that Zeravica intends to waive extradition to Pennsylvania.
Once in Westmoreland County, Zeravica will be arrested on charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, criminal homicide and burglary on a warrant issued by District Justice Helen Kistler, of Penn Township.
Peck said Zeravica could be arraigned in Westmoreland County night court as early as tonight.
According to the affidavit filed by Clark and Zupan, Helveston and Billy Joe Meighan, no address given, were on Fourth Street near Cavitt Avenue at about 3:10 a.m. on May 18 when they got into an argument with Zeravica, who was driving a Chevrolet Blazer.
He allegedly pulled Helveston partially into the sport utility vehicle and dragged him down the street as the argument got more intense. Trafford police were notified of the incident and began looking for the suspect's vehicle.
At 4:04 a.m., police were called to 309 Cavitt Ave. in response to a report of a stabbing. Witnesses Billy Joe Meighan and Jimmy DiGuilo told police that a white male entered the apartment through a window and stabbed Helveston several times, the affidavit states.
Meighan said it was the same man with whom they had argued earlier.
Police allege Zeravica called a friend, Nick Campbell, and told him of the incident on Fourth Street before going to Helveston's apartment. The two met at a park where Zeravica "said he wanted to stab the guys," the document states.
He showed Campbell a 5- or 6-inch knife with a serrated blade and asked Campbell to exchange shirts. Police allege the black T-shirt Zeravica wore to the apartment actually belonged to Campbell.
Reagan said Zeravica was arrested without incident as he left for work yesterday morning. "We didn't give him a chance to be uncooperative," he said.
Sheriff's Sgt. Steve Barbieri, Detective Doug Marske and deputies assigned to the Career Criminal Unit made the arrest about a block from Zeravica's home.
