HANOVER TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A love triangle turned deadly early Wednesday morning when an 18-year-old man was stabbed to death in Hanover Township. The suspect told police that the victim had been having an affair with his fiancée.
Police responded around 5 a.m. Wednesday to the Marion Terrace Apartments in Hanover Township, near Wilkes-Barre, to reports of a man stabbed.
Police found a man who had been stabbed and James Cater, 30, with blood on his hands and face.
Friends say this love affair had been going on for months, and when Cater came home drunk and found 18-year-old Joey Lewis and his fiancée both there, he just snapped.
Police say Cater was drunk and had blood on his hands. He told police, 'It was me. I killed somebody.'"
The victim, Joey Lewis, 18, was pronounced dead at the scene and the investigation revealed he had been stabbed several times.
Peter Hodgson was with Lewis hours before he was killed.
"My gut is torn apart, like, I basically have like sickness to my stomach," he said.
Family members watched as police looked for evidence at 702 Mark Drive in the Marion Terrace Apartments in Hanover Township. They say Lewis was having an affair with Cater's fiancée and early Wednesday morning, it all came to a head when Cater found Lewis sleeping on the couch while his fiancée was upstairs.
"I guess Jimmy went in the kitchen, got a knife, stabbed him. Joey got up and hit him a couple of times, ran out the door, collapsed right by the dumpster and died," said Jared Steinruck, cousin of the victim.
Court papers show that this love triangle had been going on for quite some time. Cater told police he caught his fiancée and Joey Lewis in bed together.
"Jimmy was cheating on her for nine years and stuff like that, but it was back and forth. It's not like one did wrong. They both did wrong," said Hodgson.
Neighbors say they're in shock that a stabbing happened there because they always see kids coming in and out of that apartment.
"I just was shaking. I was just like, 'No, like this can't be happening.' This is two doors down from my house. Kids come out here and they play all the time. It's just like crazy," said neighbor Tati Mackey.
