Stabbing Case Dismissed Following Bethel Man's Death

BETHEL, CT — The state Superior Court in Danbury disposed the case of a Bethel man accused of stabbing a woman last month.

David MacDowell, 34, was discovered dead in his cell on Sept. 3, according to a spokesman for Bridgeport Correctional Center. Officials say that McDowell was alone in his cell at the time of his apparent suicide.

MacDowell's case was dismissed by the judge at his scheduled Sept. 24 court appearance, according to court documents. A dismissal is standard procedure when a defendant dies before the case is completed.

MacDowell was arrested and charged with fatally stabbing a woman on Plumtrees Road on Aug. 24, and had turned himself in at Police Headquarters in Bethel shortly after. He was charged with first-degree manslaughter and held on a $1 million bail for the act the police have described as domestic violence. The identity of the victim has not been released, and is less likely to be after the case's disposal: the judge denied a motion to unseal documents on the case at the Sept. 24 ruling.

A final determination on the cause of MacDowell's death has yet to made. The matter is under investigation by the State Medical Examiner’s Office.