River Hammett, the suspect in Boaz’s murder, denied the connection Friday

GUNTERSVILLE, Alabama (WAFF) – A Marshall County man has been denied bail three days after he brutally stabbed someone to death outside a Boaz restaurant.

River Hammett, 25, allegedly stabbed and killed Terfils Saint-Just, 38, on Tuesday afternoon in the Western Sizzlin’ parking lot.

Boaz’s lead investigator, Dustin Baker — the only witness at Friday’s bond hearing — was one of the first to respond to the incident.

Baker and others determined that Hammett used a large pocket knife to kill Saint-Just. He described the scene as “extremely horrific” and the worst he had ever seen.

Saint-Just was already dead when the police arrived. His cause of death was a stab wound to the heart, and Baker says there were other wounds to the abdomen and neck after his death.

Hammett—an employee of Western Sizzlin—was at the scene covered in the victim’s blood. He claimed that St. Just also had a knife, but authorities found only Hammett in a nearby dumpster.

Baker also testified that he spoke with a woman who said St. Just drove them to the area looking for the address of an insurance agency.

No one from St. Just’s family attended Friday’s hearing, but Hammett’s mother, Tindra, sat behind her son.

She says that there was a river suffering from a mental health crisis. He has been diagnosed with bipolar dysplasia and post-traumatic stress disorder and is on the verge of schizophrenia.

River also has a history of receiving inpatient psychiatric care at Gadsden, along with multiple medications and follow-ups with doctors.

On Tuesday morning, he was at a doctor’s appointment and his mother noticed that he was acting unusually aggressive. She felt that he could be a danger to herself or others, so she tried to commit him to a mental institution.

She says Rivera’s psychiatrist also recommended it, but Community Mental Health Officer Jason Doyle did not.

“(Doyle) said it wouldn’t do him any good to take (River) to the hospital because he had passed all the checks, that they would just release him and send him home,” Hammett said. “It’s a mental health issue, so I’ve been trying to get him help, really hard, for three years.”

Doyle ordered her to file a bond with the probate court to send River to the hospital. She dropped River off at his car in the Western Sizzlin’ parking lot before going to do so.

When she returned home, it was already late. Hammett says if the mental health system had done its job, two lives would have been saved.

“I feel sorry for the family,” she said. “It doesn’t make anything better. I’m just sorry that everything turned out this way.”

Hammett says she still loves her son and will continue to pray that he gets the help he needs while he is in prison.

River will remain in jail without bond, and his preliminary hearing is set for Dec. 4.

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