Local News
Accused stabber heading to circuit court
By GARRETT NEESE
POSTED: June 3, 2008
HOUGHTON — An April stabbing in a Finlandia University dorm room had its roots in a dispute over whose vomit was in a dorm toilet, witnesses said in a preliminary hearing Monday.
Enrick St. Louis of Florida Location is accused of stabbing Finlandia student John Gokee several times in the early morning hours of April 18.
Finlandia student Daniel Rodriguez suffered a finger wound while trying to intercede, though no charges were filed.
St. Louis was bound over to Houghton County Circuit Court at the end of the hearing.
Gokee and Rodriguez testified Monday, as did Lake Linden resident Kristi Koskela, who accompanied St. Louis to the dorm.
Koskela, who called she and St. Louis “maybe a little more than friends,” met at Uphill 41 in Hancock around 1 a.m. She said she had been unaware that St. Louis was married.
She stayed until closing time; St. Louis left about 15 minutes earlier. About 45 minutes later, St. Louis and Koskela met up with a friend of St. Louis’s at Finlandia Hall. The friend, who had a key, opened the door for them.
They dropped the friend off and went to Rodriguez’s room, where they asked him if there were any unoccupied dorm rooms. He pointed them to a room on the fourth floor. It was unlocked, so they went in.
Gokee, who lives in the adjoining room, heard from his roommate that someone had thrown up in the toilet in the common bathroom and not cleaned it up. After an earlier incident, he said, a Finlandia official had advised him that vomit can contain airborne illnesses.
Gokee, bigger than his roommate at 6 feet 4 inches and 340 pounds, decided to confront St. Louis.
Gokee accused St. Louis of throwing up in his toilet. St. Louis denied it. St. Louis asked Koskela; she also denied it.
Standing in the doorway of the bathroom, Gokee kept insisting St. Louis was responsible. The argument escalated.
According to Koskela, at one point St. Louis said “You don’t want to mess with me, I’m associated with the Bloods.” At the same time, she said, Gokee kept yelling that the two of them had no right to be in the room.
St. Louis got closer to Gokee until he was “about three inches away” from his face, Gokee said. Rodriguez, who had come up to Gokee’s bedroom, was standing behind him.
“(St. Louis) kind of came into the door to ask David, who was behind me, if I was his homeboy ... David said yes,” Gokee said. “Richie kind of looked at me, and said ‘I don’t care who you are, where you’re from, you ain’t (expletive deleted).”
Gokee shoved St. Louis. The impact knocked St. Louis back several feet, Gokee said.
“Why did you shove him?” asked St. Louis’s attorney, James Nancarrow.
“Because I felt threatened,” Gokee replied.
Asked why he felt threatened, Gokee replied, “because he was in my face.”
The room St. Louis and Koskela were in was still dark, so Gokee moved to turn on the light, he said. In that three to four seconds, Gokee said, St. Louis righted himself, pulled out a knife, and moved to stab him. Rodriguez, who was standing behind Gokee, heard him say “Put it down.”
“By the time I looked over, he already had the knife out,” Gokee said. “... He came at me, and the first thing I felt was he cut my right pectoral muscle.”
The two continued grappling. Gokee tried unsuccessfully to take the knife away from St. Louis. At some point, St. Louis cut himself on his own knife.
Eventually, Gokee slipped while trying to grab the knife. Lying on his back, he said, he tried to fend off St. Louis with his foot while protecting his upper body.
Rodriguez entered the room and came between St. Louis and Gokee, intercepting an attempted stabbing and suffering a cut to the finger.
When he stepped in, Rodriguez said, Gokee was lying on the ground, while St. Louis was upright and about to stab him.
Gokee sustained numerous wounds to the chest, neck, and back, which required surgery. There were also non-surgical wounds to the chest, arm, knee and neck. He was released from Portage Health after a day.
Gokee asked Rodriguez what to do. Rodriguez said to call 911.
“I was in shock,” Gokee said. “I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know anything.”
Koskela said St. Louis was trying to defend himself throughout, and had attempted to avoid a fight.
“So he didn’t start the fight, he didn’t want the fight, the guy was definitely bigger than him, and at no point was he the aggressor,” asked St. Louis’s attorney, James Nancarrow.
“Yes,” Koskela said.
After Rodriguez intervened, St. Louis and Koskela left. She and St. Louis went to the Holiday station in Hancock, where they got bandages for his finger, she said. On the drive back from Finlandia, Koskela saw a blood-stained knife in the car, she said.
At that point in Koskela’s testimony, Hancock Police Lt. Randy Mayra pulled out a knife from a box of evidence.
“Does that resemble what you saw in the car that evening?” asked Assistant Prosecutor Fraser Strome.
“Yes,” Koskela said.
After getting bandages, they went to the beach near her home by Rice Lake. There, she said, St. Louis told her he had stabbed Gokee “three or four times.”
“I didn’t believe it, because I didn’t see anything,” she said. “I asked him if he was serious ... he said yes.”
St. Louis later returned to his home in Laurium, where he was arrested later that morning.
St. Louis is charged with assault with intent to do great bodily harm, a 10-year felony. He is scheduled for arraignment in Houghton County Circuit Court at 11 a.m. June 20.
Garrett Neese can be reached at gneese@mininggazette.com
Enrick St. Louis of Florida Location is accused of stabbing Finlandia student John Gokee several times in the early morning hours of April 18.
Finlandia student Daniel Rodriguez suffered a finger wound while trying to intercede, though no charges were filed.
St. Louis was bound over to Houghton County Circuit Court at the end of the hearing.
Gokee and Rodriguez testified Monday, as did Lake Linden resident Kristi Koskela, who accompanied St. Louis to the dorm.
Koskela, who called she and St. Louis “maybe a little more than friends,” met at Uphill 41 in Hancock around 1 a.m. She said she had been unaware that St. Louis was married.
She stayed until closing time; St. Louis left about 15 minutes earlier. About 45 minutes later, St. Louis and Koskela met up with a friend of St. Louis’s at Finlandia Hall. The friend, who had a key, opened the door for them.
They dropped the friend off and went to Rodriguez’s room, where they asked him if there were any unoccupied dorm rooms. He pointed them to a room on the fourth floor. It was unlocked, so they went in.
Gokee, who lives in the adjoining room, heard from his roommate that someone had thrown up in the toilet in the common bathroom and not cleaned it up. After an earlier incident, he said, a Finlandia official had advised him that vomit can contain airborne illnesses.
Gokee, bigger than his roommate at 6 feet 4 inches and 340 pounds, decided to confront St. Louis.
Gokee accused St. Louis of throwing up in his toilet. St. Louis denied it. St. Louis asked Koskela; she also denied it.
Standing in the doorway of the bathroom, Gokee kept insisting St. Louis was responsible. The argument escalated.
According to Koskela, at one point St. Louis said “You don’t want to mess with me, I’m associated with the Bloods.” At the same time, she said, Gokee kept yelling that the two of them had no right to be in the room.
St. Louis got closer to Gokee until he was “about three inches away” from his face, Gokee said. Rodriguez, who had come up to Gokee’s bedroom, was standing behind him.
“(St. Louis) kind of came into the door to ask David, who was behind me, if I was his homeboy ... David said yes,” Gokee said. “Richie kind of looked at me, and said ‘I don’t care who you are, where you’re from, you ain’t (expletive deleted).”
Gokee shoved St. Louis. The impact knocked St. Louis back several feet, Gokee said.
“Why did you shove him?” asked St. Louis’s attorney, James Nancarrow.
“Because I felt threatened,” Gokee replied.
Asked why he felt threatened, Gokee replied, “because he was in my face.”
The room St. Louis and Koskela were in was still dark, so Gokee moved to turn on the light, he said. In that three to four seconds, Gokee said, St. Louis righted himself, pulled out a knife, and moved to stab him. Rodriguez, who was standing behind Gokee, heard him say “Put it down.”
“By the time I looked over, he already had the knife out,” Gokee said. “... He came at me, and the first thing I felt was he cut my right pectoral muscle.”
The two continued grappling. Gokee tried unsuccessfully to take the knife away from St. Louis. At some point, St. Louis cut himself on his own knife.
Eventually, Gokee slipped while trying to grab the knife. Lying on his back, he said, he tried to fend off St. Louis with his foot while protecting his upper body.
Rodriguez entered the room and came between St. Louis and Gokee, intercepting an attempted stabbing and suffering a cut to the finger.
When he stepped in, Rodriguez said, Gokee was lying on the ground, while St. Louis was upright and about to stab him.
Gokee sustained numerous wounds to the chest, neck, and back, which required surgery. There were also non-surgical wounds to the chest, arm, knee and neck. He was released from Portage Health after a day.
Gokee asked Rodriguez what to do. Rodriguez said to call 911.
“I was in shock,” Gokee said. “I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know anything.”
Koskela said St. Louis was trying to defend himself throughout, and had attempted to avoid a fight.
“So he didn’t start the fight, he didn’t want the fight, the guy was definitely bigger than him, and at no point was he the aggressor,” asked St. Louis’s attorney, James Nancarrow.
“Yes,” Koskela said.
After Rodriguez intervened, St. Louis and Koskela left. She and St. Louis went to the Holiday station in Hancock, where they got bandages for his finger, she said. On the drive back from Finlandia, Koskela saw a blood-stained knife in the car, she said.
At that point in Koskela’s testimony, Hancock Police Lt. Randy Mayra pulled out a knife from a box of evidence.
“Does that resemble what you saw in the car that evening?” asked Assistant Prosecutor Fraser Strome.
“Yes,” Koskela said.
After getting bandages, they went to the beach near her home by Rice Lake. There, she said, St. Louis told her he had stabbed Gokee “three or four times.”
“I didn’t believe it, because I didn’t see anything,” she said. “I asked him if he was serious ... he said yes.”
St. Louis later returned to his home in Laurium, where he was arrested later that morning.
St. Louis is charged with assault with intent to do great bodily harm, a 10-year felony. He is scheduled for arraignment in Houghton County Circuit Court at 11 a.m. June 20.
Garrett Neese can be reached at gneese@mininggazette.com
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