Man charged in two deadly stabbings

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) - Police say a man who served 14 years in prison on murder charges fatally stabbed two Portsmouth women seven years after his release.

Bruce Williams was charged Thursday in the 2011 stabbing death of Gloria "Puddin" Johnson. He is facing similar charges in the murder of his neighbor, Linda Carroll. 

According to Jan Clark with the Portsmouth Police Department, Williams was charged with first degree murder in Johnson's death. Johnson, 47, was found during the early morning hours of March 6, 2011 lying on the street in the 1100 block of Wilcox Avenue.

Johnson was stabbed several times in the upper body.

Last year, Williams was charged with murder in the Feb. 25, 2011 stabbing death of Carroll, his neighbor who resided in the 800 block of Madison Street. 

Court records state Williams served 14 years in prison from 1990 through 2004 on homicide charges.

The records state Williams said he was offered a ride home by a 20-year-old woman, whom he slept with. Williams refused the woman's demands for a monetary payment and, in an effort to stop her from "attacking him," he restrained her, cutting off her air supply.

The woman passed away and Williams turned himself in for her death two weeks later. He told officers he had no intention of killing her. He was released from prison in March 2004.

According to documents, Williams was dependent on alcohol and cocaine and had often abused LSD and marijuana starting at the age of 12. 

During his incarceration, Williams voluntarily admitted himself to Marion Correctional Treatment Center between July 1992 and September 1992.  Doctors stated Williams experienced excruciating headaches, caused by his father severely beating him over the head while he was growing up.

In a journal entry dated May 2000 written during his incarceration, Williams stated that he was "in a rage, wanting to kill ...  my mind is attacking me ... demons tell me to kill."

In a psychiatric evaluation conducted less than a month after his release in 2004, Williams told doctors he was running out of medicine, had no income, no primary physician and suffered from seizure disorder and knee pain, but had stayed clean since his incarceration in 1990.

The evaluation stated Williams was abused as a child and had suffered from schizoaffective disorder for years, experiencing delusions that everyone was against him and hearing voices often.

When he was released in 2004, he said he still heard voices talking to him, saw outlines of a spirit at night, and felt paranoid.

As of his release in 2004, Williams had been hospitalized several times in east Virginia, including one at Tidewater Psychiatric Institute in Norfolk, one at Eastern State Hospital in 1990 and two at Central State hospital.