The prime suspect in last week’s fatal Chico stabbing was arrested in Ord Bend after a brief chase Tuesday morning, Chico police said.
The pursuit involved officers from three different agencies, but ultimately ended when residents of a mobile home Michael Patrick Anderson had sought refuge in kicked him out.
Anderson, a 30-year-old Chico man, surrendered to authorities at around 11:30 Tuesday morning after leading officers past a trailer park, across a field, through an orchard and ultimately into a ditch about five miles south of Hamilton City.
The vehicle he was driving, reported stolen the day before, became disabled after it struck a tree stump in the ditch. As officers closed in, Anderson allegedly sprinted back to the trailer park.
A female companion of Anderson’s, who had left the vehicle earlier, was questioned and released.
Anderson was being sought in connection with last Thursday’s stabbing death of 37-year-old Joel Eldridge of Oroville.
Authorities have not disclosed a motive in the stabbing, which escalated from a fight that occurred shortly before 8 in the morning on the 2200 block of Mulberry Street in Chico.