LEMONT — A local man faces murder charges after police said he stabbed another man who tried to get out of paying about $20 for marijuana.

Police on Tuesday alleged Tyler S. Marlatt, 20, of 821B Southgate Drive, Apt. 4, State College, killed 20-year-old Tyler V. Struble in a bloody attack Monday night in the Lemont backyard of 831 Henszey St., where Struble was residing.

“The crime scene and obviously the injuries to the deceased were very violent, very vicious,” State College Police Chief Tom King said. “It is a very sad time and a tragedy.”

Marlatt is charged with first-, second- and third-degree murder as well as felony robbery and aggravated assault. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Jan. 25.

According to police interviews of witnesses, the fight appears to have started with the men attacking each other and then progressed to Marlatt stabbing Struble in the neck with a hunting knife with a 6-inch blade.

Police found Struble at 10:06 p.m. Monday, unconscious and bleeding from a deep laceration in his neck. He was pronounced dead at the Mount Nittany Medical Center.

In his statement to police, Marlatt said he stabbed Struble and left the backyard. Soon after the fight, officers found him and his friends about a mile away in a vehicle in the parking lot of Mount Nittany United Methodist Church, at Villandry Boulevard and Branch Road, after his girlfriend called 911.

Common Pleas President Judge Thomas King Kistler denied bail to Marlatt, who was jailed in the Centre County Correctional Facility. It wasn’t clear Tuesday if Marlatt had an attorney.

King said the stabbing death appears to have stemmed from a drug deal around 9 p.m. Monday. Police said Struble went to buy pot from Marlatt’s girlfriend, Fatima Ghoul, 19, at their Southgate Drive residence.

King said Struble took the pot but didn’t pay for it, and that drove Marlatt to go to Struble’s residence a short time later to get the $20-$25 he felt he was owed.

Here’s how the two events Monday night unfolded, according to differing accounts from police interviews of Marlatt, his friends and others at the Henszey Street home.

Two of Marlatt’s friends, identified in the affidavit as Sean Holton and Alex Exarchos, told police slightly different stories about the incident that preceded the Henszey Street confrontation. But they both told police they witnessed Marlatt and Struble fighting, then heard Marlatt say he stabbed Struble.

Exarchos and Holton haven’t been charged “at this point,” said King. Exarchos is the son of Centre County Commissioner Chris Exarchos. The family declined to comment.

Police said Alex Exarchos and Holton said they were smoking marijuana with Marlatt and Ghoul when Melinda Burns, a house-mate of Struble, sent Ghoul a text message to set up a meeting.

Holton told police he thought it was about money the woman owed Ghoul. But Exarchos told police it was about a drug buy.

According to their statements to police, Ghoul left the residence around 9 p.m. to meet Burns.

Exarchos told police Ghoul called him soon after, and he handed the phone over to Marlatt thinking that Ghoul ran into trouble during the drug buy.

Police said Struble was with Burns when he took the pot without paying. Instead, police said, Struble tried to flee to his vehicle and Ghoul followed him.

Police said it appears Struble’s vehicle dragged Ghoul when she tried to reach inside. She suffered a leg injury.

Ghoul is facing felony drug and robbery charges from that incident.

After Struble drove away, according to one account, Marlatt decided to get revenge. Exarchos told police he remembered Marlatt saying, “Let’s get our money and drugs back and if they won’t give it back, someone is getting hurt.”

Exarchos and Holton both told police they, Marlatt and Ghoul drove to Struble’s residence in Lemont. Marlatt told police he took his knife and a wooden baseball bat with him.

At Struble’s home, Marlatt reportedly confronted him in the backyard. Witnesses told police Marlatt first hit Struble with the wooden baseball bat before Struble went inside for an aluminum bat. After Struble returned with the bat, the men resumed fighting.

Marlatt told police he wasn’t sure if he struck Struble with his bat, but he said the two traded punches.

Witnesses told police Struble eventually ended up on top of Marlatt, pinning him to the ground.

Marlatt told police he felt as though he was being choked, so he grabbed his knife.

Three witnesses who were at the Henszey Street house — identified by police as David Williams, Elliott Ott and a 17-year-old boy whose name wasn’t released — told police they saw Marlatt stab Struble at that point.

Marlatt, Ghoul, Exarchos and Holton ran to their car immediately after the stabbing. Marlatt fled covered in blood and, not long after, Ghoul called 911 from the church parking lot.

Some time while leaving the fight, Exarchos and Holton told police, they heard Ghoul ask Marlatt if he had stabbed Struble. They said Marlatt responded that he had.

Williams told police he tried to give first aid to Struble, who was unconscious and bleeding profusely from his neck. Ott also said he tried to help Struble by getting a towel and applying pressure to the wound.

Later, at the United Methodist Church, police searched the area from where Ghoul called 911 and found a wood-handled, fixed-blade knife under some shrubbery. Police said the blade had dried blood on both sides.

Exarchos and Holton told police they were smoking marijuana throughout Monday with Marlatt. But King said it wasn’t known if Marlatt was high during the altercation.

King said police had not been called to the Henszey Street house previously. A woman at the house Tuesday told reporters there that neither she nor other residents wanted to talk about the incident.

Mike Dawson can be reached at 231-4616.