While police say Adam Charles Peterson stabbed a stranger to death in late January, those who grew up with the 2006 Stillwater Area High School graduate find it difficult to believe he was capable of such a violent act.
Still, the 20-year-old now faces a first-degree murder charge in Madison, Wis., where authorities say Peterson’s DNA was matched to samples found on the knife that was used to kill 31-year-old Joel Marino in his Madison home on Jan. 28, and on a backpack and cap that were found near the scene of the crime.