Police arrived at 131 Richey Ave. early Wednesday morning to find a 9-year-old boy holding a bloodied kitchen knife, yelling that his mother was badly hurt and needed help.

Behind him, a trail of red led them to the blood-smeared third floor stairwell where the boy's adopted father, Joseph "Butch" Davis III, was bleeding and holding a bottle of brandy, yelling that she "got what she deserved."

In the third floor bedroom, they found Mr. Davis' wife, 53-year-old Victoria Davis, dead from multiple stab wounds, clad only in her underwear.

And across the street, the boy's great-aunt, Helena Harris, was curled up on a neighbor's front porch in blood-soaked clothes, having escaped her attacker.

Wednesday night, police announced that they would charge Mr. Davis in the stabbings after the 9-year-old boy described to them the gruesome chain of events that unfolded in the otherwise quiet, well-kept home he shared with his adopted parents, their son and his great-aunt. Ms. Harris, who spoke to detectives from her hospital bed while she recovered from multiple stab wounds, also implicated Mr. Davis in the grisly attack.

Mr. Davis, who remained under guard at Allegheny General Hospital Wednesday night, will be charged with homicide, attempted homicide, aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children.

Mrs. Davis died of multiple stab wounds to the trunk, the Allegheny County medical examiner said. She was pronounced dead in her bedroom at 1:46 a.m., about 15 minutes after police arrived at the home.

According to a criminal complaint, the boy relayed the details of that night to two detectives from his room at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, where he was being treated for a sprained ankle he suffered while trying to save his mother.

The boy said that he heard his mother crying in her bedroom and went to check on her. He found her sitting on the bed with her legs drawn in towards her chest, her arms around them. Then, he said he saw Mr. Davis stab his mother multiple times in the chest and he screamed for him to stop. Ms. Davis told him to leave the bedroom. As he fled the bedroom, he "heard his mother say that she was going to die," police said in the criminal complaint.

From her hospital bed at Allegheny General Hospital, Ms. Harris told police that she was awakened early Wednesday morning by the boy yelling for her to call 911. When she opened her bedroom door, she said she saw Mr. Davis standing in the hallway naked and holding a knife. He told her "I won't hurt you." She ran back into her bedroom and tried to close the door, but he forced his way in and started stabbing her in the head. As she tried to fight him off, he grabbed her and pushed her down the stairs, she told police. Mr. Davis then kicked her in the stomach and "began to stab her repeatedly about the head and body," police said.

It was unclear whether Mr. Davis stabbed himself or was hurt by someone else.

Still, as police pieced together the two accounts, they struggled to determine the motive behind the stabbings.

Mr. Davis's mother, Joan Davis, declined to comment about the incident.

"I loved both of them," she said.

Stunned neighbors said they could not reconcile what they knew of the family with the screams they awoke to the night before. They said the Davises were friendly, hardworking folk who fit in well on their street, which holds annual block parties and is lined with tidy homes.

"I just can't get over it," said Maria Wiegand, 60, fighting off tears. "I would never, like they always say, have suspected him."

Mr. Davis remained under guard Wednesday at the hospital, where he underwent surgery and was intubated.

Neighbors said the Davises had lived on Richey Avenue for five to 10 years

Lt. Daniel Herrmann said the family kept a "meticulous" abode.

"It's just really very upsetting," said neighbor Debra McMenamin, 60. "I would never have thought that something like that would happen to them."

"They were so nice," Ms. Wiegand said. "They always waved and said hello. I heard the neighbors down there say they never heard them fight. So decent."

According to state Department of Public Welfare records, Ms. Davis operated a day care in the Hill District, Heavenly Care Day Care and Educational Center, Inc. A hand-painted sign at the center describes it as a Head Start program. No one answered the door Wednesday, and the colorful playroom sat empty.

Mr. Davis reportedly held two maintenance and janitorial jobs. Trina, a neighbor who declined to give her last name, said he also coached her grandson's tee-ball team.

"I'm flabbergasted," she said. "It's totally out of character for him."

Other neighbors described Mr. Davis as "a nice guy, the kind of guy you'd invite over for a beer and a football game," Lt. Herrmann said.

"It's a strange one," he said of the case.

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