Abubakarr Barrie held without bail on nine charges in Baltimore stabbing

A Baltimore judge ordered Abubakarr Barrie, 23, held without bail on Monday, Oct. 26, on nine charges, including attempted first-degree murder and kidnapping, in the stabbing of a 15-year-old girl who escaped from a basement apartment in Northwest Baltimore on Oct. 22.

The girl was stabbed about five times, in the chest, ear, shoulder, back and rib cage, and one of the wounds collapsed a lung, according to charging documents filed in District Court. Medics took her to Sinai Hospital. She is expected to survive, police said.

Barrie said nothing during Monday afternoon's hearing at Wabash District Court, CBS News Baltimore reported, and his public defender told the judge that he maintains his innocence. He appeared by video before a Baltimore City District Court judge on nine criminal charges, FOX45 News reported, and he remains in custody until a preliminary hearing on Nov. 25.

What the charging documents say

The girl told investigators she accepted a ride from Barrie in what she described as a hack, an unlicensed taxi, and asked to be taken to a carryout called PlattaKing at 5514 Belair Road, according to charging documents obtained by FOX45 News. The documents say he picked her up off McCulloh Street. She realized he was driving in the opposite direction and questioned him.

The documents say he put his arm around her neck and head and held her so she could not move while she was strapped into her seatbelt. After stopping the car, he grabbed her by the arms and pushed her toward the rear of a home at 3705 Garrison Blvd., near Barrington Road.

He pushed her down a short set of steps into the home and led her into a small room, where he told her to put her phone down and not to scream. A scuffle followed, police wrote, and Barrie stripped off her clothes and began stabbing her all over her body as she scratched and clawed at him.

She found a fire extinguisher in the room, picked it up and hit Barrie with it, then got away and fled the home on foot with no shoes or clothes on. She knocked on doors as she went, and in the 3800 block of Belle Avenue, about 10 minutes away, an unidentified person let her use a phone to call 911 and her mother. Officers found her there around 9:30 p.m.

Video from the homeowner

The owner of the Garrison Boulevard home gave surveillance video to Baltimore Police and to FOX45 News, saying he wanted the footage in the hands of the police and the press so people could see what happened. He was out of the country at the time and asked not to be identified because of the nature of the case. Video timestamped 8:09 p.m. shows a white car pulling into the driveway.

The homeowner identified the man getting out of the car as Barrie and said a female also got out and walked toward the basement entrance. He said the two went inside. Video timestamped 8:52 p.m., roughly 43 minutes later, shows a female running from the home.

The footage captures only portions of what happened outside the property. It does not show the inside of the vehicle or the basement, and the homeowner said he saw no struggle as the two walked toward the house. Barrie contacted him that day to ask whether he had access to the cameras.

Barrie told him his wallet had been stolen and that he wanted to post a picture of the girl who took it, the homeowner said. He did not review the footage right away. He looked at it after speaking with a friend whose uncle lives at the property, and said he realized more had happened than he had been told.

How investigators found him

The teenager gave detectives a description of the car and the Cash App account connected to the man who offered her the ride, and investigators traced a phone number associated with the account to Barrie. CBS News Baltimore reported that Barrie had given her the number so she could pay for the hack ride, and that the car was a white Hyundai Elantra.

FOX45 News reported that detectives tracked the girl's missing iPhone 14 to Barrie's Garrison Boulevard address and, earlier that day, to a nearby tire shop. CBS News Baltimore reported that Barrie still had the phone and that police were able to monitor its location.

The girl identified Barrie as her attacker in a photo array, detectives said, and he was arrested on Oct. 24, two days after the stabbing.

The nine counts are attempted first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, use of a dangerous weapon with intent to injure, kidnapping, false imprisonment and theft of the girl's phone, according to the charging documents.

What the court heard Monday

The court heard that Barrie had lived on Garrison Boulevard for about a month. His public defender said he worked for Uber Eats and was working toward earning his GED, CBS News Baltimore reported. Pretrial services reported a history of suicide attempts, and his attorney asked that he be monitored while in custody. Anyone in crisis can call or text the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.

Barrie's record and the rented room

Court officials at Monday's bail hearing said Barrie had prior arrests but no prior convictions, according to CBS News Baltimore.

His defense told the court he has no prior criminal history, FOX45 News reported. Online records showed he was arrested for prostitution in Baltimore County nearly three months ago, a case marked stet, meaning it is on hold.

The homeowner told FOX45 News that Barrie was renting a room in the basement and had returned to the property roughly one or two months before the incident, after previously living there and then moving to New York.

Neighbors near the house told FOX45 News they had seen Barrie multiple times, and that children live next door and around the home.

Reaction on the block

Ethan Czebotar, who lives on Garrison Boulevard, told FOX45 News the block is quiet and that he was surprised something like this happened down the street. On McCulloh Street, resident Christina Chavis told the station the case was disgusting, and Ajanae Melvin called it sickening and said neighbors need to look out for one another.

Shana Kay, who lives across the street from the apartment, told CBS News Baltimore she had never seen Barrie before.

I would have helped. That's scary. She must've been terrified. Oh my God, I can't believe it happened right at my doorstep.

A neighbor who lives next door to Barrie told CBS News Baltimore she had not noticed anything out of the ordinary but was wary of the people living around her, and said that is why she does not like to leave the house. The neighbor declined to give her name.

Barrie remains behind bars. Attempted first-degree murder, the most serious of the nine counts, carries the possibility of life in prison if he is convicted, CBS News Baltimore reported.