Detroit Stabbing Suspect`s Crimes May Date to 2005

Oct. 22--Fewer than 24 hours before two Detroit EMTs were stabbed on duty in Midtown, police began searching for Michael Montgomery in cases involving murder, kidnapping and torture dating to 2005.

Through DNA matching, police said they connected the 30-year-old Detroit man to two cold cases and, by about 10:30 a.m. Monday, had obtained a warrant for his arrest.

Apparently by coincidence, police said he's the man who attacked the two EMTs at 12:30 a.m. Tuesday after they were called to Third and Martin Luther King Jr. for his girlfriend's ankle injury. Montgomery was arrested without incident at 8 p.m. Tuesday and arraigned Wednesday morning in one of the cold cases; police said charges are pending regarding Tuesday's attack.

"It has to be one of the strangest incidents I've ever seen, with the cases being connected, in my 10 years in homicide," Detroit police Sgt. Lance Sullivan said at a news conference Wednesday.

Given the charges, police suspect he could be connected to more cases, and they're asking anyone who may be able to connect him to other crimes to come forward.

"In my own opinion, he's an animal," Deputy Chief Steve Dolunt said, adding that he thinks other victims may have been too "terrified" to turn him in.

Dolunt said Montgomery apologized but didn't confess.

"It's too little, too late for me," he said.

Kelly Adams and Alfredo Rojas were released from the hospital by Wednesday afternoon. Police said a warrant package is being prepared for prosecutors' review.

A written statement from police said Wednesday that Montgomery had tried to board an ambulance with his 28-year-old girlfriend, for whom the ambulance had been called. He and the woman were later arrested when police caught them walking north on Whitcomb near Fenkell.

The DNA that connected him to the cold cases had come from a domestic-violence arrest earlier this year, police said. Sullivan said he'd been swabbed but not connected to the DNA already in the system from the other cases until a victim in an assault case came forward and the process was expedited last week.

Montgomery was charged Monday with first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree felony murder and first-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the Jan. 1, 2006, slaying of a 16-year-old Detroit teen. He was arraigned before Magistrate Laura Echartea on Wednesday in 36th District Court and given no bond. Montgomery is scheduled for an Oct. 28 probable cause conference and a Nov. 4 preliminary examination in the 2006 homicide.

According to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, Montgomery is accused of sexually assaulting and fatally stabbing the teen behind a building on Joy Road in Detroit.

Montgomery was also charged Tuesday with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, kidnapping, torture and using a firearm in a felony. The prosecutor's office said in a release that on Dec. 23, 2005, Montgomery allegedly kidnapped, tortured and sexually assaulted a 33-year-old Detroit woman in an alley in the 8600 block of Auburn in Detroit.

According to the prosecutor's office, the warrants were signed while Montgomery was not in custody. He was yet to be arraigned in the 2005 case.

Wayne County Circuit Court records show Montgomery was charged in a separate case in January with unlawful imprisonment and felonious assault. Both charges were dismissed.

Montgomery's attorney in that case, Wyatt Harris, said the felonious assault charge was dismissed in July because a witness didn't show up for trial, and the unlawful imprisonment charge was dismissed before that for insufficient evidence.

On Tuesday night, Detroit police announced Montgomery had been arrested in the stabbings of the Detroit EMTs.

Fawn Colombatto, a paramedic who said she went to the academy with Adams in 2003 and worked in Detroit until 2009, said getting attacked on the job isn't unusual for EMTs in the city.

"It happens a lot more than people think," she said. "I still have a scar on my middle finger from someone that tried to stab me."

She said that happened in 2006, and her partner threw the person out of the truck. In her six years in Detroit, she said she called in a code 1000, "medic in need of help," about four times.

"It's not really a good job when you have young kids," she said, "because you don't know if you're going to come home at night."

Now that she has twins, she said she moved to Millington in mid-Michigan and does work for North Oakland Fire Authority.

Joe Barney, Detroit EMS union president, said EMT safety concerns have long been an issue.

"This has been a concern for decades," Barney said. "We're not really trained on how to handle those types of situations, and they can prove to be catastrophic. You certainly can't prevent every attack -- there's going to be attacks. But as an employer, you have to be able to send your people out trained and equipped."

Barney said that just last month, two EMTs had assailants put "guns put in their faces."

"Our current assistant chief, before he became chief, had been attacked and had to have shoulder surgery," Barney said. Tuesday's incident "is probably the most violent brutal attack that I have ever seen on a public safety officer. This was just very brutal and very bloody. Not only did this inflict a lot of damage, it maimed these individuals to a certain point."

Barney said the city has around 270 EMTs but that number has fluctuated over the years. Mayor Mike Duggan said Tuesday that he has had several conversations with Interim Executive Fire Commissioner Eric Jones on what can be done to ensure the safety of EMTs.

"We can throw money at problems and hire new people, but if you can't manage your operations, you're going to run out of money and people," Duggan said. "For the last 40 years -- and considerably longer with the fire department -- it has not been run very well. But I'm pretty confident that the gentleman we have now, I think he's competent enough to do this. I think he means business."

Duggan said that Adams probably saved the life of Rojas when she intervened as he was being attacked. Jones said the man was with the woman on the sidewalk when the EMTs arrived, and for some reason, he became agitated.

Both Adams and Rojas were stabbed and slashed in the face and hands by a sharp object, and "within inches of dying," Jones said Tuesday. The two drove themselves to Detroit Receiving Hospital, said Jones, who added that the scene inside their vehicle was "horrific."

Colombatto said she's not surprised to hear that Adams stepped in to help Rojas, getting stabbed and slashed in the process. "She's crazy strong," she said, adding that she was "devastated" to hear about the incident.

Barney said both EMTs are well-loved in the community.

"Kelly has been here for quite a while," he said. "She has a passion for saving animals and picks up a lot of strays in the city. It kind of speaks volumes about her. I don't want to sound cliche, but she's a motherly figure to a lot of our young techs. Al is a good guy, a funny and happy guy, and has a good heart."

Barney said many EMTs were upset the night the attack happened.

"On the night that this happened, they drove themselves to the hospital and the vehicle was parked out front and eventually became a crime scene," he said. "Detroit police had to bring in evidence techs, who were brushing for fingerprints in the vehicle. We had a lot of people coming up to the hospital on duty and off, and their coworkers could see the life-or-death situation they were in. You could see all of the blood. A lot of the folks said, 'Wow, this could have been me.' "

Colombatto started a GoFundMe page for Adams and Rojas in hopes of providing some help with recovery. She aims to raise $10,000 and had reached more than $2,300 by Wednesday. Stefan Karpuk, a Detroit EMT and director of the Detroit EMS Benevolent Fund, said EMTs and others are also raising money. Donations can be made at www.demsba.org/.

Contact Katrease Stafford: kstafford@freepress.com or 313-223-4759. Staff writers Elisha Anderson and Gina Damron contributed to this report.

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