Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

Eric O'Neal, in white jump suit, is arraigned in Kent County District Court in February 2009 for the murder of Melissa Delmonico in Cranston. The Providence Journal/Mary Murphy

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A Providence man charged with robbing and killing a Cranston woman in January was ordered held without bail following a Superior Court arraignment Friday.

Eric O'Neal, 35, of 31 Gallatin St., was arraigned in Providence County Superior Court Friday on charges of first-degree murder and first-degree robbery.

The authorities had previously given his last name as Oneal.

O'Neal has been held at the Adult Correctional Institutions' high security center in Cranston since his arrest. He's also charged with violating the terms of his release on two prior convictions.

The police said O'Neal went to the apartment of 19-year-old Melissa Delmonico at 16 Cedar St., near Hugh B. Bain Middle School in Cranston, under the pretense that he was going to pay back some money she had lent him.

Once there, however, he asked her for another $30, the police said, and threatened her with a BB gun. The two fought in the kitchen. O'Neal grabbed a kitchen knife and forced Delmonico upstairs to her bedroom, where he stabbed her repeatedly, the police said.

Her body was found Jan. 29 in her duplex apartment, next to her grandfather's unit.

O'Neal took off with her computer and cell phone, the police said.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story gave the incorrect court in which the arraignment was held.

 Tags  courts Cranston RI murder

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