Stephanie Nicole Bozarth will go to trial 8:30 a.m. Wednesday in Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court for the alleged 2011 murder of Tabitha Russell.
Bozarth, 28, was charged with first-degree murder after she allegedly stabbed Russell to death Aug. 26, 2011, in an altercation the day before Hurricane Irene hit the Historic Triangle. Bozarth pleaded not guilty at a January 2012 arraignment.
The case was supposed to go to trial in September 2012, but it was continued via a motion by the defense. In December 2012, it was delayed because a witness for the prosecution was unavailable. A call Monday morning to the Commonwealth Attorney’s office for Williamsburg/James City County suggested the trial was still on track to move forward Wednesday.
Testimony from the preliminary hearing in November 2011 from a James City County police investigator and a 12-year-old witness had Bozarth in front of her home the day before Irene struck, arguing with Russell who lived across the street in the Windy Hill Trailer Park on Judy Drive.
The juvenile witness was playing Xbox with Bozarth’s younger brother and another friend inside Bozarth’s home when they heard an argument outside. When the witness went outside, he said he saw Bozarth and Russell arguing. He said both of the women had men around them at some point who were trying to stop the confrontation.
Bozarth eventually went inside her home after her husband, William Gray Bozarth II, pulled her away from the argument. William Bozarth was found guilty in December 2011 of malicious wounding from a fight he had with another man before the murder.
The witness said 30 to 45 seconds after her husband pulled her inside their house, she came back with a shiny metal object in her hand that Commonwealth’s Attorney Nate Green suggested was the knife used to kill 27-year-old Russell.
The witness then said the women ran toward each other and started fighting. He said he could not clearly see what happened and could not make out what they were saying, but when he realized Russell was hurt, he ran away because he was scared.
Russell, who was pronounced dead at the scene, died of a stab wound to the throat, according to an Aug. 27, 2011, news release from Maj. Stephen Rubino of the James City County Police Department. The fight between the two women began over a dispute with Russell’s brother, according to the release.
The investigator who testified said he found a flip knife on Bozarth’s porch the night of the murder.
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