By Noah Manskar and Olivia Lease
Online Editor and Copy Editor
A jury of eight women and four men has found Nicholas Eber, 24, guilty on three felony charges in the stabbing of Anthony Peddle ’14.
Eber was convicted of attempted murder, felonious assault and aggravated burglary for stabbing Peddle in his bedroom at the Chi Phi fraternity house in the early hours of May 3.
Peddle, who was Ohio Wesleyan’s senior class president at the time, sustained a wound to his chest three-and-a-half inches deep and a large wound to his wrist that had to be surgically repaired.
In his testimony Thursday, the third day of the four-day trial, he described Eber as âless than an acquaintanceâ with their communication primarily occurring through Sean Anthony â14, Eberâs ex-boyfriend and Peddleâs close friend and fraternity brother.
When asked about Anthony and Eberâs relationship, Peddle said he didnât approve or disapprove of him. He said, however, he had acknowledged that there was wedge between himself and Eber, which caused tension. Peddle said he saw Eber on campus unaccompanied by any students after Anthony and Eber broke up in December of 2013, after dating for 10 months.
On Wednesday, Delaware Police Department detective David McQuigg testified that he and other investigators identified Eber as a person of interest after interviewing some of Peddleâs fraternity brothers. The person who got into the house must have known the security code to the door, McQuigg said, and Anthony testified that Eber had the code.
Eber was arrested May 8 after police found a sweatshirt matching the description of the attackerâs and a pair of shoes with blood on them in his apartment.
The location of the hole in the sweatshirt matched a cut on Eber’s arm, which he said he got when he broke a glass doing dishes. An analysis of the fibers around the hole in the sweatshirt showed one side had been cut and the other had been torn.
Police did not find any of Eber’s blood at the crime scene, and the blood on the shoes from his apartment was not Peddle’s.
On Tuesday, Eber’s defense attorney Joel Spitzer argued Matthew Costello, a Delaware man who matched the description of the attacker and was seen with blood on his nose in a nearby United Dairy Farmers convenience store, could have been a suspect.
But DPD detective sergeant John Radabaugh testified Wednesday that it would have been “a waste of time” to pursure Costello. He was not a person of interest and was cooperative when officer Joseph Kolp confronted him later that morning.
Eber faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, according to Ohio Revised Code statutes.