By By Adam Prestridge
Patricia Burkes, the mother of murder victim Barrett Finney, is strong in her faith.
That's why when she found out a suspect had been arrested in connection with her son's untimely death; she was careful to watch her tongue.
"Be quick to listen and slow to speak," Burkes said Tuesday afternoon from the living room of her Golden Road home.
Escambia County Sheriff's deputies notified Burkes that 22-year-old Atmore resident Krezmenski Finklea had been arrested and charged in the April 21 stabbing of her son shortly after she laid him to rest Saturday afternoon in Fairview Cemetery.
"We asked (Finklea) to come to the Sheriff's Office in Atmore so we could speak to him and after the conclusion of the interview, we arrested him and charged him with murder," Escambia County sheriff Grover Smith said.
Finney, 21, was stabbed in the chest around 9:48 p.m. the evening of April 21 following an altercation in front off his mother's home located at 145 Golden Road, where he resided. According to Burkes, her son approached a group of people attempting to park in the front yard and asked them not to. That's when she said her son was stabbed.
"They were having a party next door," Burkes said in a previous interview. "We wouldn't let them park in the yard."
Finney was transported to the hospital by ambulance where he was pronounced dead.
"It's pure hate," Burkes said last week. "It was just meanness, malicious."
Smith said Finklea is being held at the Escambia County Detention Center in Brewton where he is awaiting a bond hearing. He did not release any other details regarding the night of the murder.
"It's too early in the investigation for us to say much about the events leading up to the murder," Smith said. "We've only been working on this case for a little over the week. We've interviewed a number of witnesses and are in the process of trying to locate others."
Although Burkes is relieved that someone is behind bars for her son's murder, she prays justice prevails and if others were involved, she hopes they are arrested too.
"At this point, nothing will bring my baby back," she said.
Finney graduated from Escambia County High School in 2002. He played tuba in the marching band and played center on the Blue Devils' basketball team.
The Escambia County Sheriff's Office requests anybody present the night of Finney's murder that has any information regarding the case to contact the Sheriff's Office in Brewton at 809-2141 or Atmore at 368-4779.