Deputies are looking for the suspect in a Sunday stabbing in Sierra Vista that sent a man to the hospital with serious injuries.
At about 3 a.m., deputies responded to a 911 call for a stabbing in the 5000 block of Ricardo Drive and located a 30-year-old man with a "significant wound to his abdomen," said Cochise County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Carol Capas.
The victim was airlifted to a Tucson hospital for treatment. His current condition is unclear.
Through interviews with the victim's girlfriend, detectives learned that the couple had been inside the trailer when she heard a man, who she identified as 30-year-old Derek Ryan Childs, knocking on the door and asking to speak to her boyfriend, Capas said.
The victim went outside to speak with Childs and the girlfriend heard sounds of a struggle, before he came back into the home and told her he'd been stabbed. Childs initially came into the home, then fled the area.
The victim told deputies that he was speaking to Childs about a propane tank when "a struggle ensued" and he was stabbed with what he described to be a 6 to 8 inch hunting knife, Capas said.
Deputies unsuccessfully tried to find Childs at his home, and a search of the area revealed several pieces of evidence consistent with the accounts of the stabbing provided by the victim and his girlfriend, Capas said.
Anyone with information about Childs' location is asked to call the Sheriff's Office at 432-9500.
