Roommate: Drunken proposition for sex led to Santa Rosa stabbing

A fatal stabbing at a southwest Santa Rosa home for ex-transients started with a drunken proposition for sex, a roommate told police.

Victim Willie Ray Smith, 47, was “very drunk” when he returned to the Red Tail Street home late May 11 with a male friend believed to be the suspect, Khalil Rahim Keith, 35, according to search warrant documents obtained Wednesday.

The roommate, Charmayne Fasce, told police an argument turned into a physical fight in the hallway of the residence when Smith asked Keith for sex, the documents said.

Fasce intervened, ordering Smith to go to his room. She escorted Keith, who also had been homeless but was not living there, onto the front porch with all his belongings, which included a tote bag, liquor bottle and soccer cleats, the papers said.

Moments later, while she was on a short walk down the street, Fasce heard what she thought was the two men wrestling on the sidewalk in front of the house, the documents said.

She returned to find Smith on the ground, bleeding from his chest. He died after being taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. Keith was no longer at the home.

A search of a second-floor bedroom turned up blood stains on a towel, bedding and a wall.

About two hours later, police spotted a man fitting Keith’s description, carrying similar belongings and wearing cleats less than a mile away near Southwest Community Park.

Officers said Keith had fresh scrapes on his hands and avoided answering questions about them. He was booked into Sonoma County jail on suspicion of murder.

Keith appeared in a Santa Rosa courtroom Wednesday to set a preliminary hearing for July 17. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Meanwhile, Catholic Charities officials who arranged the Red Tail Place housing said the remaining roommates would be relocated. A spokeswoman could not be reached Wednesday.

The case is the first of two stabbings involving homeless people in Santa Rosa this month.

On Monday, police said Wade Pound Temple, 48, stabbed Joe Bob Liles, 50, on a sidewalk near Dutton Avenue and West Third Street.

Temple, who was also in court Wednesday, is charged with attempted murder and is being held on $1 million bail.

Last fall, another Santa Rosa man was sentenced to life in prison after jurors found him guilty of murder in a fatal stabbing outside the downtown library on Christmas Eve in 2013.

Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Dave Linscomb said the incidents are isolated and random and do not suggest any increase in violence among the homeless population.

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ppayne.