Man killed in Houston and accused attacker were ‘complete strangers’

Authorities believe a Houston man and the woman accused of hitting him with a stolen car and stabbing him to death outside his southeast Houston home were strangers, investigators said.

Karon Fisher, 20, charged with murder and assaulting hospital staff, was arrested around 8 p.m. on May 3 after residents in the 7000 block of Woodridge Square Drive rushed outside their home to check on Steven Anderson , retired from MD Anderson Cancer Center, 64 years old. . A Houston police officer testified at a bail hearing Friday that he saw a crushed white sedan and a knife thrust into Anderson’s chest when he arrived.

A prosecutor described in court what happened moments earlier, based on surveillance footage from a neighbor’s home: When Fisher hit Anderson with the vehicle, he was unable to get up .

“She gets out of the vehicle, approaches him, straddles his body and kisses him,” prosecutor Ryan Trask said in court. “Then she slits his throat and stabs him seven to ten times and leaves the knife in his chest.”

Fisher, who was being held on $2 million bail, shuddered as Trask described how Anderson was killed.

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His defense attorney, Charles Brodsky, who declined to comment after the hearing, focused his questioning on finding any potential signs of mental health problems.

Officer Anh Nguyen said he went looking for the suspect who witnesses saw walking away from the crime scene. He found the woman, later identified as Fisher, within minutes.

He noticed a bloodstain on her arm while he was holding her.

“What did I do wrong,” Fisher asked calmly, according to the officer’s testimony.

The bail hearing included testimony from a community supervision officer from Judge Chris Morton of the 230th District Court to assess the defendant’s likelihood of returning to court.

The probation officer said Fisher missed several appointments related to an escape case that ended in a deferred judgment agreement, a form of probation. The judge acknowledged spotty attendance in his decision to reduce his bail to a total of $900,000 for the three outstanding charges.

“This defendant is not showing up when and where she is supposed to,” Morton said.

He said someone would have to be wealthy to be able to post the initial $2 million bail, adding that he believed local bail companies would not be able to guarantee bail that high.

“I can’t set bail just to keep someone in custody,” Morton said. “It’s not fair to have a system that allows rich people to get out, while those who aren’t rich can’t.”

Mario Garza, a bondsman with the Harris County Bail Bond Board, said that while some bondsmen may release these amounts, they do so with reservations to avoid the financial risk sometimes associated with a defendant’s failure to appear. Bail bond companies will require power of attorney documents, while the bondsman will also require higher premiums and collateral, such as rental and commercial properties.

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Police investigator Mario Providence tried to piece together what happened before Fisher was taken to the hospital, where court documents say she allegedly assaulted a nurse while being restrained. She was confused and didn’t know where she was.

“When I asked questions, (she) bounced all over the place,” Providence said. “I couldn’t get a straight answer.”

He determined that the white vehicle used to hit Anderson had been reported stolen from a hotel about two hours before the attack. A hotel guest then called the homicide division and alleged that Fisher had taken his car without his permission. The prosecutor did not believe Fisher knew the car’s owner.

He found no evidence to determine why Fisher was in the neighborhood or why she attacked Anderson.

Court records list an address in northern Harris County as Fisher’s residence, about 27 miles away.

Trask initially thought Fisher knew Anderson based on the video and expressed surprise when investigators found nothing that suggested a connection between the two.

“They were complete strangers,” Trask said after the hearing. “It made the situation even more shocking and horrific.”