EAST PROVIDENCE — Three days after it occurred, the police reported yesterday that Michael R. McKenna Jr., of 280 Roger Williams Ave., had been stabbed to death Saturday in his apartment.

Capt.Walter Barlow said McKenna, 26, lived alone in the city’s Rumford section. “We have some details we are following up on. Obviously, there are a lot of things to do,” Barlow said, adding that as people travel for the Thanksgiving holiday, “that could be a barrier” to the investigation.

Asked why the police took so long to release information, he said, “It’s to protect the confidentiality of the investigation. The last homicide, the media was wandering around. … until they found the place. That’s what we wanted to avoid.”

The death is the second fatal stabbing in Rumford in two months. Steven Dowgiala was stabbed to death in his home on Kenyon Avenue Sept. 24 by a man believed to be a distant cousin of his wife. The suspect – Joel Noonan, of Avon, Mass. – was wounded by New York City police the next day before being captured. East Providence authorities are awaiting his extradition.

Word of McKenna’s slaying became public after neighbors contacted the media on Monday.

Yesterday a property manager at the 16-unit building on Roger Williams Avenue confirmed a death had occurred.

“Somebody got killed in there,” Ted Patrie, of Bilodeau Property Management Inc., said. “The police wouldn’t give us anything. They gave us permission to go in today.”

A neighbor, Maria Lourenco, said, “The police asked me [Monday] if I heard anything or knew anyone [in the complex]. I didn’t hear or suspect anything.”

The neighborhood’s biggest concern in recent years has been a sharp curve in front of the building and the drivers who speed around it.

Of the killing, Lourenco said, “How does a person get into do that? I live here maybe nine to ten years, so I was shocked. You know, I have fear.”

“Today, we don’t trust anyone. You know sometimes they kill a witness.”

Deputy Police Chief Donald Dubois said McKenna’s death is an isolated incident and nobody has to “worry.”

Employees at Davenport’s restaurant on Taunton Avenue, where McKenna worked as a bartender, appeared shaken but were tightlipped yesterday. “He was a great guy,” said the manager, Kevin Jarvis.

Asked why no information had been released in the normal checks that reporters make with the police, Dubois said, “A lot of times the officer in charge doesn’t know all the information or doesn’t want to give the wrong information.”

Asked about the delay in informing the public, Mayor Joseph Larisa said he could see the desire of the media and the public for information and the department’s concern for releasing any. The City Council was told over the weekend by City Manager Richard Brown that something had happened Saturday, Larisa said.

“To me, it’s typical that the Police Department is tightlipped when they believe it can maximize their opportunity to apprehend the suspect,” said City Councilman-elect Robert Cusack, who represents that community and ward. “However, when it happens in a community, it’s reassuring to neighbors to know certain things, such as if the people involved knew each other and if the suspect was captured. It’s the randomness that really frightens people.”

With staff reports from Kia Hall Hayes