A man has been charged with murder Tuesday in connection to a fatal stabbing the day before at a Smithfield hotel.
According to the Smithfield Police Department, officers responded to a stabbing around 12:30 p.m. Monday at the Baymont Inn.
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When police arrived at the hotel, they found a woman, later identified as Sandra Omary Juarez of Smithfield, inside a hotel room.
Police said they administered first aid, but Juarez died at the scene.
Hotel guest Michael St. Peter was startled by the early afternoon chaos.
"I never expected it to happened so I was definitely concerned," he said.
According to officers, a suspect, identified as Eric Jonathan Nelson, 49, left the scene but was later arrested in Virginia.
According to Smithfield Chief of Police Pete Hedrick on Tuesday, the attack was unprovoked and the motive behind the crime remains under investigation.
"The crime was so brutal that it appears Nelson severed his own finger, which was left at the scene," he said.
Hendrick added that State Bureau of Investigations agents identified Nelson as the suspect through the finger left at the hotel.
Hedrick said the Flock camera program helped with Nelson's capture. WRAL News has reported extensively on the automatic license plate readers, or ALPRs.
Critics argue the cameras are an erosion of personal privacy.
Some investigators and hotel guests credit the program with reducing crime and quickly capturing dangerous criminals on the run.
"Thank God because of that, they were able to apprehend the suspect as quickly as they did," St. Peter said.
Investigators with the Smithfield Police Department traveled to Virginia on Tuesday and charged Nelson with first-degree murder.
Police officers are asking anyone who may have had interactions with Nelson to call them at 919-934-2121.