Suspect Charged With 1st Degree Murder In Menifee Killing

MENIFEE, CA — A 22-year-old convicted felon accused of fatally stabbing a Menifee resident was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder and other offenses.

Samuel James McNeal Jr. of Menifee was arrested last week following a Menifee Police Department investigation.

Along with murder, McNeal is charged with a special circumstance allegation of lying in wait, a sentence-enhancing allegation of using a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony and probation violations.

The defendant, who is being held without bail at the Byrd Detention Center, was slated to make his initial court appearance Wednesday afternoon at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta.

According to Menifee police spokesman Chase Coburn, shortly before 4 p.m. Friday, McNeal was involved in an unspecified confrontation with the victim, identified only as a local man, at a residence on Copper River Road, near Junipero Road.

During the encounter, McNeal allegedly pulled a knife and stabbed the victim several times in "the upper torso," then ran away from the location, Coburn said.

Witnesses called 911, and Menifee police officers converged on the area, along with county fire department paramedics, who pronounced the man dead at the scene.

Coburn said that nearby Boulder Ridge Elementary School was placed on lockdown as a precaution while patrol officers fanned out to look for McNeal, who was found about two hours later on East Heritage Lake Drive, only a block away, where he was taken into custody without incident.

The defendant and victim "knew one another," Coburn said, but a possible motive for the alleged attack wasn't disclosed.

According to court records, McNeal has prior convictions for attempted burglary and trespassing.