Multiple Tennessee and Virginia agencies helped locate Levi Carter after police warned that the murder suspect was armed and dangerous.
KINGSPORT, Tenn. — What began as a reported stabbing inside a Kingsport home grew into a regional manhunt involving officers from two states, a red pickup truck and a pursuit that authorities said ended with the victim’s son in custody.
Levi Carter, 37, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of his father, Anthony Carter, 51. Police said the homicide investigation began late June 8 at a residence on Hickory Street. By early the next morning, the Kingsport Police Department had obtained a murder warrant, issued a public warning and asked surrounding agencies to help locate Carter. He was later arrested in the Church Hill area and remains jailed on a $500,000 bond. The allegation has not been proven in court.
The department’s first public notice focused on the immediate risk officers believed Carter presented while he remained at large. Police released his name, age, physical description and information about the vehicle he was believed to be driving. The notice described a red Ford F-150 with Tennessee registration and said Carter was last seen wearing blue jeans and a blue shirt. Officers called him armed and dangerous, urged anyone who saw him to call 911 and warned members of the public not to approach or try to stop him.
The notice did not explain in detail how police developed Carter as the suspect so quickly. Later reports said Anthony Carter’s wife told investigators that the younger Carter had come to the family residence, attacked his father with a pocketknife and fled in the pickup. Authorities also allege that the wounded man reached the living room and identified his son to his wife before he died. Police have not released the complete affidavit or all witness statements gathered during the initial response.
As the search widened, the case moved beyond the boundaries of one city police department. Kingsport police later thanked the Scott County Sheriff’s Office, Virginia State Police, Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Church Hill Police Department and other state and local partners. The list shows that the operation reached across county and state lines, requiring agencies with different jurisdictions to share information and coordinate their movements.
Public accounts indicate that officers pursued Carter into Virginia and then back into Tennessee before he was taken into custody. A law enforcement vehicle crashed in Hawkins County during the operation. Authorities have not released a full pursuit report explaining when the chase began, which agency initiated it, how fast the vehicles were traveling or what caused the cruiser to crash. No available official statement reviewed for this article reported that a civilian was hurt during the pursuit.
The Kingsport Police Department announced Carter’s capture in an update to its wanted notice. The agency did not provide a detailed arrest narrative in that update, but said Carter had been located and thanked the surrounding departments that assisted. Local reports placed the arrest in Church Hill, about 10 miles from Kingsport. The public record available through the reports does not establish whether Carter surrendered, was stopped in the truck or was arrested after leaving the vehicle.
While the regional search shaped the first public hours of the case, later court testimony shifted attention back to the Hickory Street home. Kingsport Police Detective William Clare said Carter described an argument with his father before the stabbing. According to the detective, Carter said the dispute concerned “father and son stuff” and that the two men had been seated when something Anthony Carter said caused his son to stand. Carter allegedly admitted using a pocketknife to stab him once.
Clare said Carter initially believed the wound was to his father’s stomach. Authorities, however, said Anthony Carter was stabbed in the chest. The difference could become relevant as investigators compare the defendant’s alleged account with medical and physical evidence. No autopsy report or detailed medical examiner’s findings have been made public in the sources reviewed for this article. The precise path of the wound and its forensic significance therefore remain outside the public record. Officers encountered a complicated interior scene when they returned their focus to the residence. Clare testified that a trail of blood ran from the basement into the main living area, creating what he called “essentially three crime scenes.” That phrasing described the number of areas investigators had to process inside the property, not three separate attacks. Authorities have not disclosed how long officers remained at the home, how many items they collected or whether the knife allegedly used in the stabbing was found there.
The physical trail also helped investigators reconstruct Anthony Carter’s actions after he was wounded. According to the reported affidavit, he moved into the living room and told his wife that Levi had stabbed him. Such a statement could become significant evidence, but its admissibility and weight would be decided through the court process. The defense would be able to question the circumstances in which it was made and challenge other portions of the prosecution’s reconstruction.
After Carter’s capture, Clare interviewed him for approximately 32 minutes. The detective testified that Carter did not appear intoxicated and discussed the dispute. When told that his father was dead, Carter allegedly said, “Oh, boy.” Clare further attributed the statement “Sometimes we gotta do what we gotta do” to Carter as an explanation for the stabbing. No complete video, audio recording or transcript of that interrogation has been publicly released, and the quotations remain part of the state’s developing case.
The pursuit and arrest resolved the immediate public-safety concern announced in the wanted notice, but they also created additional investigative questions. It has not been publicly confirmed whether Carter possessed a weapon when he was arrested, whether anything was recovered from the truck or whether prosecutors are considering charges tied to the flight from police. The official release lists only one count of second-degree murder, and no report reviewed for this article identifies a separate prosecution arising from the cruiser crash. At Carter’s first reported court appearance, the defense asked for his bond to be reduced from $500,000 to $25,000. The judge denied the request. The ruling keeps Carter in custody while the homicide charge moves through the Sullivan County court system, but it does not determine whether he committed the crime. Carter is presumed innocent unless prosecutors prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt or he enters a guilty plea.
The case now has two connected timelines for the court to examine. One concerns the minutes inside the home, where investigators say a family disagreement ended in a fatal wound. The other follows Carter’s departure, the urgent warning to the public and the multijurisdictional effort to find him. Evidence from both periods could affect future hearings, particularly if prosecutors seek to use Carter’s conduct after the stabbing to support their account or if the defense disputes the meaning of his departure.
The next reported court date for Carter’s case was set for Oct. 14. Until then, authorities have not announced whether additional evidence will be presented, whether the charge will be reviewed by a grand jury or whether any pursuit-related allegations will be filed. The murder case remains pending, and several important details about both the homicide investigation and Carter’s capture have not been publicly released.
Author note: Last updated July 26, 2026.