Records show police had responded to a March domestic dispute involving the same two people before the fatal April 15 stabbing.
CORNELIUS, N.C. — A second-degree murder charge filed after a fatal stabbing in Cornelius is drawing wider scrutiny because court records show the suspect had been arrested weeks earlier in a domestic violence case involving the same man who later died.
Police said 24-year-old Demetri Niji McGruder was found with a stab wound shortly after 12:39 a.m. Wednesday inside an apartment on Ruffner Drive, and 23-year-old Makayla Nicole Hooks was arrested and charged in his death. But the case has widened beyond the immediate crime scene because documents cited by local media show officers had already been called to the same apartment in March, raising new questions about the couple’s history, the evidence in the fatal case and the steps that come next in court.
The April 15 response began as a call to an apartment in the Oakhurst area of Cornelius. In its initial release, the Cornelius Police Department said officers went to 18711 Ruffner Drive, Unit 1E, for a reported stabbing and found McGruder suffering from a wound that proved fatal. Police identified Hooks as the suspect and said she was arrested and taken to the Mecklenburg County Jail. By itself, that account was brief. It established the place, the time and the charge, but left many of the most important facts unresolved, including the motive, the exact relationship between the two and the events that led up to the violence. Those gaps began to fill in through affidavits and court records cited by local outlets later Wednesday.
According to those affidavits, Hooks told detectives that she and McGruder were arguing in the kitchen while she was cutting steak. She said she put the knife down, heard a noise in the bathroom and then found him with a stab wound. Detectives said that explanation did not stay consistent. Local reports said body camera footage captured Hooks telling an officer that McGruder had a knife, that she pushed him and that the knife stabbed him. Police said she later disputed that account and said McGruder never had the knife. Investigators also said she never claimed she was afraid for her safety during the argument. The affidavit, as described in reporting, said Hooks gave detailed descriptions of the incident but did not clearly explain how McGruder was wounded. Detectives further reported that Hooks had no obvious injuries, while McGruder had bruises and other marks, and that the apartment showed signs of a struggle.
The most striking context came from a separate March 17 case. Court records cited by WBTV and the Charlotte Observer said Hooks was arrested after a dispute with McGruder at the same apartment. In that earlier incident, investigators alleged she admitted she “got heated” and threw glass items at him. Officers reportedly observed small cuts on McGruder’s thumb, hand and toe. Hooks was charged then with simple assault and misdemeanor domestic violence, and records showed she was later released on a $5,000 bond. Documents in that case indicated that both Hooks and McGruder lived at the apartment, and a warrant said they were dating. That earlier case does not determine guilt in the homicide investigation, but it gives the fatal stabbing a documented history that prosecutors, defense lawyers and the court are unlikely to ignore as the new case moves forward.
The evidence described so far also suggests why investigators moved quickly to file a murder charge. Police said the knife believed to have been used was found in a butcher block with blood on it and inside the block. Detectives also reported a large amount of blood on a bed in the master bedroom, even though Hooks’ account centered on a kitchen argument and a bathroom discovery. Those details, combined with the mention of bruises, marks and signs of a struggle, point to a scene that investigators believe involved more than a single unexplained wound. At the same time, important facts remain unknown. Police have not publicly described a clear motive. They have not said whether anyone else was interviewed as a witness inside the apartment, whether forensic testing has been completed or whether any surveillance footage exists from the complex. They also have not publicly explained how the physical evidence lines up room by room with the statements in the affidavit.
The killing has unsettled neighbors in a part of Cornelius better known for residential growth than violent crime. Local coverage described the area around Ruffner Drive as a mix of apartments, townhomes and single-family houses near Bailey Road. Neighbors told reporters they were shocked by the stabbing and worried by how close it happened to homes and schools. That reaction has helped turn a local homicide case into a broader conversation about recurring domestic conflict and police response. Even so, the case remains at a procedural stage. What matters most now is not neighborhood speculation but the record that will emerge in open court: the probable cause basis for the charge, any bond ruling, the scheduling of future hearings and any prosecutorial decision about whether the count remains second-degree murder or changes as more evidence is reviewed.
As of Thursday, Hooks remained the only publicly named defendant in the case, and the next major step is expected to come through court proceedings or additional records that clarify the state’s account of McGruder’s death. The homicide investigation is no longer just about what happened in one apartment after midnight; it is also about what the earlier March arrest may reveal when the case enters the courtroom.
Author note: Last updated April 16, 2026.