Competency hearing for suspect in Vegas homeless stabbings

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Las Vegas man charged with knife attacks on four homeless people, including two who died, will have his mental competency reviewed.

Court documents show 33-year-old Christopher Martell is scheduled for a mental competency hearing next month.

Martell was arrested Sept. 21 following an attack on two people — a woman in her 30s and an older man in a wheelchair — on Flamingo Road not far from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Police said both victims were homeless.

Investigators say they found evidence showing Martell was the same assailant who killed 57-year-old Jody Devries and 74-year-old Mary Susan Miller. Both women were found dead behind a church about a week apart last month—before Martell’s arrest.

The Clark County coroner said both died of multiple stab and slash wounds. Neither had a home address.

Martell has pleaded not guilty to two counts each of murder with the use of a deadly weapon and attempted murder with the use of a deadly weapon,