Gabrielle Marie Cribb, 22, Stabbed to Death in Gaston Home; Constance Lever, 35, Charged With Murder

 A 22-year-old woman is dead and a 35-year-old Lexington woman is facing murder charges after a violent and senseless incident early Friday morning inside a Gaston-area home, according to authorities with the Lexington County Sheriff's Department. The predawn stabbing has left a young life tragically cut short, a family devastated, and a normally quiet neighborhood on Marshall Road searching for answers in the wake of the bloodshed.

Lexington County deputies say they responded around 3:20 a.m. to a residence on Marshall Road after receiving frantic 911 reports of a stabbing in progress and a woman screaming for help. When deputies arrived within minutes, they found a chaotic and bloody scene inside the home and located Gabrielle Marie Cribb lying in a hallway, suffering from severe wounds, with another person desperately attempting to help her by applying direct pressure to her injuries while waiting for paramedics.

Cribb, 22, of Lexington, had suffered multiple deep stab wounds to her upper body and torso during the sudden attack. Deputies and Lexington County EMS immediately began aggressive life-saving measures at the scene before she was rushed by ambulance under emergency conditions to a nearby Prisma Health hospital in critical condition and taken directly into emergency surgery. Despite the heroic and sustained efforts of surgeons and trauma staff, she later died from her injuries.

Investigators say the suspect has been positively identified as Constance Michelle Lever, 35, also of the Lexington area. According to detailed arrest warrants, Lever allegedly entered the home uninvited hours after an earlier dispute, walked deliberately into the kitchen, grabbed a large steak knife from the kitchen counter, and then launched a sudden, violent, and unprovoked attack, stabbing Cribb multiple times at close range before others could intervene.

Witness statements obtained by detectives also allege that previous threats had been made by Lever toward people inside the home in the days and hours leading up to the fatal encounter, suggesting a disturbing pattern of escalating tension and animosity. Investigators are now reviewing text messages, social media communications, and prior incident reports for further context and to establish a clear motive for the killing.

Police say Cribb and several friends and roommates had gone to a local bar earlier Thursday night before an argument involving Lever erupted, leading the group to leave the establishment early and return to the safety of the Marshall Road residence. The situation, which appeared to have cooled overnight, later escalated dramatically in the early morning hours when Lever allegedly returned and forced her way inside, turning a verbal dispute into a fatal attack.

Lever was located and arrested Friday morning without further incident and was booked into the Lexington County Detention Center around 11:30 a.m. She has been formally charged with murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, both serious felonies under South Carolina law. During her initial bond hearing Friday afternoon, a magistrate judge denied bond entirely due to the violent nature of the charges and the perceived threat to the community, and she remains in custody pending trial.

The investigation remains active and ongoing as detectives with the Lexington County Sheriff's Department Major Crimes Unit continue to interview additional witnesses, process forensic evidence and blood spatter from the home, and build a complete and precise timeline of the night's events. Gabrielle Marie Cribb is being remembered by her devastated family and heartbroken friends as a vibrant, kind, and loving 22-year-old whose bright future was stolen far too soon in an incomprehensible act of violence.