A 49-year-old Port Huron man is facing an assault with intent to murder charge after allegedly stabbing a stranger three times in the abdomen outside an Eastpointe motel, then fleeing the scene before returning, when officers arrested him. Eric Dewayne Williams is accused of attacking the victim outside the Eastland Motel on Gratiot Avenue near Eight Mile, in an assault prosecutors describe as unprovoked against someone he did not know.
According to The Detroit News, Williams was charged with stabbing and wounding another person at the motel, and he also faces a tampering with evidence count punishable by more than 10 years in prison. Separate reporting from Citizen places the attack late in the evening on August 8, with emergency dispatch fielding 911 calls around 11:36 p.m. reporting a victim stabbed near Room 19. The victim survived the wounds.
Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido did not mince words in describing the case. “These allegations are deeply disturbing, particularly when a stranger was allegedly targeted without provocation,” Lucido said, per The Detroit News. He added that such behavior will not be tolerated in our community.
Arraignment and a $1 Million Bond
Williams was arraigned Tuesday in Eastpointe's 38th District Court, where a magistrate set his bond at $1 million cash or surety. The prosecutor's office identified the presiding magistrate as Mark J. Makoski, according to the official record of the proceeding. As of Friday, court records did not list an attorney for Williams, and his next court hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, August 19.
Officers arrested Williams at the motel itself, according to the report. The circumstances described in the charging documents indicate he fled after wounding the victim, then returned to the property, where he was taken into custody. Investigators are still looking for the weapon allegedly used in the attack.
Habitual Offender Status Raises the Stakes
Williams faces up to life in prison if convicted of assault with intent to murder, and up to 10 years for the tampering charge, but the more consequential number may be 25. As a four-time habitual offender, Williams faces a mandatory minimum of 25 years in prison if convicted, prosecutors say.
That enhancement stems from Michigan's so-called “super habitual” offender statute, MCL 769.12, which mandates a minimum 25-year sentence for defendants with three or more prior felony convictions who are convicted of a serious violent crime, according to the Hills Law Office. Under Michigan Compiled Laws Section 750.83, assault with intent to commit murder is itself a Class A felony punishable by life or any term of years, and prosecutors must prove specific intent to kill rather than general recklessness, per the Michigan Legislature's statutory framework. The Macomb County Prosecutor's Office has repeatedly invoked the fourth-offense habitual enhancement throughout 2026, applying similar notices in drive-by shooting and weapon assault cases earlier this year.
A Motel With a Troubled Recent History
The Eastland Motel, on Gratiot Avenue just north of Eight Mile Road, has operated as a commercial lodging business since July 1977, according to the Better Business Bureau. The property sits along a busy commercial corridor that forms part of the boundary between Macomb County and Detroit. It is not the motel's first brush with local news coverage: in May 2025, Hoodline reported on a search for an abandoned litter's mother after newborn kittens were found on the property, prompting a police and animal control response.
This stabbing also lands amid a run of knife violence across the region. On the same day as the Eastpointe incident, a 26-year-old Shelby Township man allegedly stabbed a 21-year-old during the annual Raft Off gathering at Muskamoot Bay on Lake St. Clair, according to CBS News, which reported that the suspect was arraigned on a $100,000 bond. Eastpointe itself has seen a string of serious stabbing cases over the past year and a half, including an April dispensary parking lot stabbing that Hoodline covered when a security guard faced charges on a $500,000 bond, and the fatal stabbing of a McDonald's manager in July 2025 that led to first-degree murder charges against an employee held on $25 million bond.
Several details remain unresolved as the case moves forward. Investigators have not recovered the weapon allegedly used in the stabbing, which is the basis for the tampering with evidence charge. It is also unclear whether Williams will secure defense counsel before his August 19 hearing.
