UPDATE: New Details Emerge in Court Documents

The city's last homicide occurred on Feb. 9, when a 27-year-old man was found stabbed inside his home. James Rico Houston later died at a hospital, and detectives arrested his longtime partner, Shamika Holmes, on suspicion of murder.

Last Wednesday, the same day that Holmes, 25, had a public defender assigned to her court case, detectives filed documents in court showing what they found in a search of her home. They provided several new details.

San Bernardino police officers arrived at the North Sepulveda Avenue home just after 4 a.m. Feb. 9 to find Houston lying on the living room floor with a stab wound to his chest. Holmes initially told officers that Houston had gone to Club Gotham, also known as the Hudson Theater, on Caroline Street in south San Bernardino earlier that evening, Detective William Flesher wrote in an affidavit.

Holmes said that Hudson was having trouble breathing when he returned home, and collapsed onto the floor shortly afterward, Flesher wrote.

"This was inconsistent with the initial call to police dispatch indicating the victim was outside the house arguing with someone," Flesher wrote.

Officers noticed a kitchen knife with "discolored fluid" on the blade lying on the living room floor near where Houston fell, Flesher wrote. He wrote that when he arrived at the house he found no blood on the car that was parked in the driveway with its door open. He also found no trail of blood into the home, he wrote.

"There was no evidence indicating an altercation occurred outside in the front yard," Flesher wrote. "Your affiant believes evidence will be located to establish the stabbing occurred inside the residence."

The documents filed in court Feb. 19 showed that detectives found a steak knife with a serrated blade with possible traces of blood on it. They also found a telephone receiver with suspected bloodstains.

Holmes is next scheduled to appear in court next month. A preliminary hearing has been tentatively set for April 3.