Man charged in stabbing death at north Charlotte hotel

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Police charged a man in a deadly stabbing at a north Charlotte hotel Tuesday.

Gregory Richardson, 55, is charged with the murder of Jovonte Martell-Moss Franks.

Officers received the call just after midnight at the Brookwood Inn on Sugar Creek Road near Interstate 85.

Investigators told Channel 9 Richardson stabbed Franks and left him to die.

Crime lab technicians could be seen looking at a vehicle in the parking lot early Tuesday morning. Officers did not say how the vehicle may be related to the killing.

PHOTOS: CMPD investigating north Charlotte homicide

Police spent the day looking for Richardson, who they called a "person of interest" at the time and released surveillance images from a convenience store across the street from the Brookwood Inn.
 
CMPD Lt. Dave Harris said the murder comes in a part of Charlotte that has seen a large increase in violent crime over the same time frame in 2014, but reversing that trend is not as easy as making one arrest or even several.
 
"It's an uphill battle with all of these things because there's two to replace every one that we get," Harris said.

Police have not said what led to the stabbing. Richardson will face a judge Wednesday.

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