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Murder victim stabbed in neck with scissors, St. Paul police say

Anthony Jay Haukos spooned the bloodied body, then stabbed him twice in the neck. "See, look what you made me do. You made me do this," Haukos said. Those details were outlined in a criminal complaint, filed Friday in Ramsey County District Court...

Anthony Jay Haukos spooned the bloodied body, then stabbed him twice in the neck.

"See, look what you made me do. You made me do this," Haukos said.

Those details were outlined in a criminal complaint, filed Friday in Ramsey County District Court, charging Haukos, 44, with second-degree murder in the death of Thomas Grover Stein. The St. Paul man is scheduled to make his first court appearance Monday.

St. Paul police were called about 9:30 p.m. Thursday on a disturbance at 8 Winter St. A medical health practitioner who works across from the residence contacted police after getting a call about Haukos, who was becoming unruly in Stein's apartment.

When police arrived, a resident let them in. They knocked on Stein's apartment door and announced their presence. There was no response, the complaint said.

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One officer went outside to look into the unit from a window, and saw what appeared to be a woman on the floor. The individual was Stein, who dressed like and preferred to be known as a woman, the medical health practitioner told police.

Stein, 59, wasn't moving. There was blood on the floor nearby and on his face and clothing. Haukos, also covered in blood, lay next to him. He was holding a silver-edged item with a dark handle, the complaint said.

The officer told Haukos to come outside. Haukos said, "Paul, is that you? I swear to God I will take her head off! I will cut it off, Paul! I will cut his head off."

The officer said he wasn't Paul and told Haukos to drop the weapon and come outside.

Haukos told the officer he'd have to kill him, the complaint said.

A second officer joined his colleague at the window and saw Haukos raise a pair of scissors above Stein's head. The first officer warned Haukos: "Don't do anything stupid."

Haukos brought the scissors down on Stein's neck, looked at the officer and then stabbed Stein again. Stein didn't move.

The officers ran inside. The bloodied scissors were still in Haukos' hand, the complaint said.

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While aiming their guns at him, police told Haukos to drop the scissors. He stared back, unmoving. He soon dropped the scissors, and positioned himself on his stomach with his hands out to his sides.

When police tried to handcuff Haukos, he resisted. He referred to himself as "the Devil" and "Tony Montana," a character from the 1983 film "Scarface." He warned police that God would kill all of them for interfering.

Police used Tasers, then knee strikes and other "forms of force" to try to control Haukos, the complaint said. Eventually, they handcuffed him.

The officers took him to Regions Hospital, where, during an interview, Haukos told an investigator that he'd tried to kill himself several times in the past year, that he was seeing things and that his mind was not very healthy.

He'd been cleaning up Stein's apartment Thursday when they got high on marijuana, he said. Then, Haukos flipped out on Stein, whom he described as a woman during the interview.

Haukos called Stein a devil and witch because of the way he quoted the Bible, the complaint said.

He said he was sure he'd killed Stein and had stabbed him six times in the throat.

Later, when taken to the Ramsey County Jail, Haukos told a nurse, "I took a scissors and cut her head off."

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Stein was pronounced dead at the scene. Initial reports indicate he died of blood loss from multiple stab wounds to the neck.

Haukos lived in a group home across the street from Stein. The home is run by St. Paul-based South Metro Human Services, which serves adults with mental illness or substance abuse disorders, a resident said.

A woman who answered the phone at South Metro declined to answer questions.

In recent days, Haukos had gone back and forth between the buildings to visit Stein, said the neighbor, who declined to be identified.

"He was quiet. He kept to himself," the neighbor said of Haukos. "If somebody struck up a conversation, he would talk."

Haukos has twice been convicted of DWI, once in 1998 and again in 2006, court records show. In 1998, he was convicted of third-degree burglary in Ramsey County.

Tad Vezner contributed to this report.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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