Second suspect charged in fatal stabbing

FALL RIVER -- A second man was charged Monday in connection with the fatal stabbing of 39-year-old Joseph Reading on Hall Street.

Mark Costa Jr., 26, was arraigned Monday on a single felony charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing substantial bodily injury, according to the District Court Clerk’s Office.

Judge Kevin Finnerty ordered Costa held without bail until a Friday dangerous hearing. At the hearing, a judge will determine whether Costa is too dangerous to release before trial, or whether he poses a flight risk.

Costa and co-defendant Adam James Conners, 29 both stand accused of a fatal Saturday night stabbing at a party on Hall Street.

A witness told investigators Reading began making “rude comments” to Costa at the birthday party, according to a police report.

Costa and another man, who was later identified as Conners, argued with Reading. During the argument, Reading allegedly pulled a knife, the witness told police.

The witness said he was able to calm the situation until Reading threw a wooden crucifix.

A physical altercation broke out among the men. A television was knocked in the course of the argument, causing the lights to go out in the apartment, the report states.

The witness told investigators he heard Reading yell, “I’ve been stabbed.”

Costa and Conners then ran out of the apartment, followed by Reading and his wife, the witness said.

Reading got into his 2008 Lexus, bleeding profusely from the leg, and began driving, according to the report. He crashed into “several vehicles” before coming to a stop along a chain link fence in the area of Hall and Church streets.

Police responded to the scene and saw Reading slumped over in the driver’s seat. A large among of blood that appeared to come from a wound on his left leg was on the floor of the car, according to the report.

Reading was taken to Saint Anne’s Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 12:24 a.m.

Investigators’ determined that Reading had been stabbed. But Reading’s wife told investigators at the crash scene the blood was due to a recent knee surgery, according to the report.

A different witness of the fight on Saturday told investigators they saw Conners “strike” Reading in the “lower leg area.” The witness told police they did not see Conners with a knife.

The witness mimicked Conners’ gesture, which an officer described in a report as “consistent with a stabbing motion.”

A different witness told investigators they say Conners and Costa together “moments before” the fight with Reading, the report states.