Man arrested for stabbing friend, claimed it was suicide

MESA, AZ - A call to 9-1-1 claiming a man had committed suicide ended with his friend arrested for murder.

Police say 20-year-old James Kelly fatally stabbed Brandon Crowther early Tuesday morning. 

Officers arrived at the home after receiving an emergency call stating the man had killed himself.

According to police, Kelly and two girls were staying with Crowther for a few days at his home on E. Onza in Mesa.

Kelly told police Crowther sent inappropriate text messages to his girlfriend and made unsolicited advances toward her. 

When the pair confronted Crowther, police say he got upset and told them to leave.

Crowther somehow got the girl's cell phone and kept it while sleeping on a couch.

Kelly told police when tried to get the phone from the man's pocket, he woke up and slashed at him with a chef's knife.

Kelly said he grabbed a smaller knife and stabbed Crowther twice in the neck while he was still on the couch.

Police found a small knife buried in the back yard stained with blood. Officers found the chef's knife wrapped in a shirt in a suitcase in a bedroom.

Kelly is facing second-degree murder charges.