MARGATE, Fla. – A 17-year-old boy was arrested Wednesday on a second-degree murder charge for stabbing a man over a $20 debt, authorities said.
Kelen Joseph, 35, was found dead Nov. 20, partially outside his brother's Honda Accord outside a Melaleuca Drive home. Police said his body had multiple stab wounds and what appeared to be a bite mark on the left forearm.
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Detectives spoke to Joseph's girlfriend, who they said led to them an apartment, where she said her boyfriend often sold crack cocaine to the people who lived there.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the property manager turned over a bloody kitchen knife to police that he found the day before Joseph's body was found, and police said DNA on the knife matched that of Joseph. Fingerprints on the knife and witness testimony led police to the suspect, Brian Rahim, 17, the affidavit said.
A woman who lives in the apartment told police that she knew Rahim as "Jit," and said he had told her that Joseph owed him $20 and he was looking for him to get his money.
She said he later came to her apartment and had a visible bite mark and was wearing a bloody shirt.
She said he also had a sandwich bag filled with crack cocaine.
Detectives said the woman claimed that she asked Rahim who he robbed, and he told her that he "just got money back from a friend" who owed him money.
It's unclear whether the state will charge Rahim as an adult.