Man charged with open murder after finding girlfriend with another man

MARQUETTE — An Ishpeming man accused of stabbing and killing another man last month in the City of Marquette, appeared in court for a preliminary exam this afternoon.

Twenty-four year-old Derek Blemke is charged with open murder in the death of twenty-one year-old Brandon LaFavre of Marquette. Blemke is said to have stabbed LaFavre, who was hanging out that night in bed with Blemke’s ex-girlfriend at her apartment. One of the officers first on scene described his encounter with the suspect, as the victim was on the floor, lying in a pool of his own blood.

“I basically asked him what happened,” said Patrolman John Inch of the Marquette City Police Department about his encounter with Blemke. “His words were that his girlfriend was a ‘cheating whore.’ I asked him, ‘So did you do this?’ He said, ‘Absolutely.'”

During the preliminary exam, Marquette County Prosecutor Matt Wiese read an autopsy report, which stated Blemke stabbed LaFarve twenty-four times. District Court Judge Karl Weber determined that there was enough evidence against Blemke to send the matter to circuit court. Blemke will appear there on July 29th. He remains in jail tonight on no bond.