Man charged with murder in Newark stabbing

A man injured in a Feb. 11 stabbing in Newark has been charged with murder, accused of fatally stabbing another man in the incident.

Michael A. Culp, 28, of Newark, was arrested Tuesday after being released from Ohiohealth Grant Medical Center. He is charged with murder in the death of 38-year-old Rodney Peyton, of Newark, who died in the stabbing on Deo Drive.

During a bond hearing Wednesday in Licking County Common Pleas Court, Culp’s bond was set at $1 million.

According to court records, detectives found video surveillance showing Culp with a knife prior to the stabbing around 4:10 p.m. Feb. 11 at Indian Valley Shopping Center. A knife was recovered during the investigation and identified as the weapon causing Peyton’s death.

Court records show that Culp’s girlfriend identified that knife as belonging to Culp.

According to a 911 call, a witness told dispatchers Peyton and Culp had been walking together. When Culp went inside a business, he left his backpack outside. Peyton was looking inside it when Culp returned and stabbed Peyton, according to the caller.

Either Peyton or Culp went into a different business at the strip mall to seek medical help. The 911 calls do not identify which of the men was inside the business, and there is some indication both may have been inside at some point. Peyton died at the scene.

Culp was seriously injured and taken to Licking Memorial Hospital before being transferred to Grant.

Culp has prior felony convictions for violation of a protection order and illegal manufacture of drugs and is currently on parole.