Murder Suspect of Beaufort County Woman Arrested in Ayden, NC | Eastern NC Now

   Max Albert Dorat Tejada, a.k.a. Max Alberto Diaz, a 24 years old man from Salvador, was arrested in Ayden, NC on Saturday, June 30, in the stabbing death of 32-year-old Hope Cutler of Washington, NC. Sources report that the Greenville Police, U.S. Marshal Service, state SBI and the Pitt County Sheriff's Department assisted in the arrest of the Salvadoran, who had been on-the-run since the brutal, repeated stabbing, and resultant death of Hope Cutler on June 26. BCN had posted the obituary of Miss Cutler on Friday, June 29, 2012.

   Eye-witness accounts claim that suspected assailant, Max Tejada, had an argument with Hope Cutler in the parking lot in the vicinity of 140 Concord Drive, Sedge-Field Apartments complex in Greenville, NC, when suddenly the verbal exchange became heated, and then violent. Investigators say an argument broke out between Tejada and Cutler in the parking lot at approximately 7:30 pm on the night of the murder.

   Witnesses continued: Once the argument became incendiary, Miss Cutler attempted to access her cell phone, and quickly, Tejada grabbed it from the victim, threw it, and commenced to stab the victim. One witness ascertained that Miss Cutler, after being initially stabbed by her assailant, attempted to walk away, and then fell in the aforementioned parking lot only to be re-positioned by the suspected assailant, Tejada, and while still lying on the pavement, in a pool of her own blood, Tejada continued to stab her.

   Investigators report that the suspected assailant, after committing the grisly murder, walked away toward the railroad tracks that run behind the apartment complex.

   It is also reported that the victim, Hope Cutler, and the suspected assailant, Max Tejada, were in a relationship.

   A candlelight vigil at the apartment complex, where Hope lived and where she died, was held in her honor to celebrate her life, and rationalize her death.

   We will report the continued status of Max Tejada as we know it.