By Mark E. Vogler
Staff Writer
May 02, 2008 01:10 am LAWRENCE — Police today were continuing a manhunt for a 23-year-old Methuen man wanted for allegedly stabbing his 16-year-old former girlfriend at least a dozen times with a large kitchen knife. Meantime, a brother of stabbing suspect Jose Guzman was arrested yesterday for allegedly beating up the girl's stepfather. The stabbing victim, Magdalena Castro, suffered wounds in her back and the front of her torso and on her arms during the attack in the backyard of 110 Auburn St. Wednesday night, police said. Castro was in serious but stable condition at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston last night, according to police. Police said she may have survived the struggle only because a neighbor who overheard the commotion surprised her attacker, who then fled the scene leaving the knife behind. Though Guzman continued to elude police, Lawrence detectives are hoping to close in on the suspect after arresting his brother in a stakeout of their 139 Centre St. apartment in Methuen yesterday. Jeremy Guzman, 18, was charged with assault and battery and breaking and entering in the night-time with intent to commit assault after Methuen and Lawrence police captured him going into the apartment. Police say he forced his way into the Lawrence home of Jose Martinez, 30 — Castro's stepfather. "We have to believe there's some kind of connection to the two incidents," Lawrence police Chief John Romero said last night. "The girl gets stabbed in a brutal attack, and then the brother of the guy we're seeking for attempted murder assaults her stepfather. There's something there we're looking into. We're also hoping that by talking to the suspect, we'll find out where his brother is," Romero said. Before being taken to the hospital, Castro identified Jose Guzman as her attacker. Romero said the girl has been attempting to distance herself from Guzman since obtaining a restraining order against him in 2006 when she was 15. That restraining order has expired. Following the stabbing incident, Lawrence police detectives, accompanied by Methuen police, went to Jose Guzman's apartment. There, police said Jeremy Guzman told Lawrence Detective Carlos Cueva that he planned to go to Exchange Street because he was related to Castro. Cueva contacted Lawrence police to look for a potential problem at 177 Exchange St. Shortly after, Lawrence police received a 911 emergency call from Martinez, reporting that he had been assaulted by several family members of Jose Guzman. Martinez later told police that Jeremy and Julio Guzman, who are related to his wife, knocked on his door shortly before 11 p.m. Wednesday. "I told them, 'What do you want ... your brother stabbed my stepdaughter, and the police better find him before I do,'" Lawrence police Sgt. Charles Carroll wrote in his report. "At this point, Jeremy Guzman pushed his way along with Julio and the other two males into my house and Jeremy Guzman knocked me to the ground and all four males started punching me all over my body until I managed to call 911," Carroll quoted Martinez as saying in his interview with detectives. Police charged Jeremy Guzman only in connection with the beating. Romero said police believe that Castro and Jose Guzman are cousins. It's not clear what triggered the stabbing of Castro, who will turn 17 later this month.
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