An Ithaca man is in custody and charged with murder after the fatal stabbing of a woman over the weekend.
Around 2 p.m. Saturday, May 23, officers responded to a report of a stabbing incident at 709 Triphammer Road in the Village of Cayuga Heights, according to the Cayuga Heights Police Department.
Police identified the victim as 19-year-old Breanne Keane, of Ithaca.
Keane was medically treated at the scene and then transported while lifesaving measures continued. She succumbed to her injuries while in transport to a local trauma center after attempted lifesaving efforts were unsuccessful, police said.
Cayuga Heights police arrested a suspect, 20-year-old Damian Stewart, at the scene.
Police charged Stewart with second-degree murder. He was arraigned in the Tompkins County Centralized Arraigned Program Court and is currently incarcerated at the Tompkins County Jail.
Keane was a Syracuse native and was in her senior year at Lehman Alternative Community School in Ithaca, according to a post by her father, Matt Keane, on his Facebook page.
Keane was an animal lover and planned to study canine training as a career, her father said.
“She was my life. She loves all animals, especially her kitty Rusty and every dog she has ever met,” Matt Keane wrote. “She was so much better than me or the majority of people on this planet.”
The investigation into Keane’s death is continuing. The Cayuga Heights Police Department was assisted by the New York State Police, Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office, Cayuga Heights Fire Department and Bangs Ambulance.
This article originally appeared on Ithaca Journal: Ithaca man in custody after fatal stabbing of woman in Cayuga Heights
Reporting by Jeff Murray, Ithaca Journal / Ithaca Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
