Aaron Menard appears yesterday in District Court, Providence.

The Providence Journal / Bill Murphy

PROVIDENCE — A man accused on Friday of stabbing another man to death was brought to court yesterday on a charge of murder.

Magistrate Joseph P. Ippolito Jr. of District Court ordered Aaron Menard, 18, of 25 Darcy Lane, Burrillville, held without bail pending arraignment in Superior Court on Oct. 27. As is customary at the District Court level, the defendant entered no plea.

The police said that Kenneth J. Wanamaker, 26, of 2 Hill St., Smithfield, was found lying in a pool of blood in the early morning hours after a 911 call brought firefighters and police officers to a parking lot behind the East Smithfield Neighborhood Center at 7 Esmond St.

Detective Lt. Michael C. Rheaume said on Friday that officers at first had considered Menard as a witness. He said Menard then went to police headquarters voluntarily to answer questions.

He said Menard was charged after he gave a statement and told investigators where to find the knife used in the slaying.

Rheaume said that Wanamaker apparently tried to get into an apartment at 11 Esmond St. that was occupied by Menard and Nicole Sherman, who was Wanamaker’s former girlfriend. He said the couple had been awakened by “something rustling at the screen.” He said the pair went outside to investigate, and confronted Wanamaker, who was dressed in “dark clothing.”

(A story in Saturday’s Providence Journal said incorrectly that it had been Menard who had tried to enter the apartment and also said incorrectly that Sherman and Wanamaker were asleep in the apartment at the time.)

Rheaume said a confrontation erupted.

“Kenneth was stabbed three times and succumbed,” he said.

Wanamaker could not be revived when rescue personnel found him in the adjacent parking lot.

He was pronounced dead by an official from the state medical examiner’s office. An autopsy was scheduled.

tmorgan@projo.com