Smithfield police officials investigate the area behind the East Smithfield Neighborhood Center, below, at 7 Esmond St., where a man was stabbed to death early yesterday morning.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report incorrectly transposed references to Kenneth J. Wanamaker and Aaron Menard in several instances.

SMITHFIELD — The police said yesterday that a man apparently tried to get into an apartment occupied by his former girlfriend and her current boyfriend in the early morning hours, and that the boyfriend stabbed the would-be intruder to death after a struggle in a parking lot behind the East Smithfield Neighborhood Center, at 7 Esmond St.

The victim, Kenneth J. Wanamaker, 26, of 2 Hill St., did not respond to attempts to revive him after police officers and firefighters were summoned at 1:44 a.m. and found him “lying in a pool of blood,” according to a police statement. He was pronounced dead by an official from the state medical examiner’s office. An autopsy was scheduled.

Yesterday afternoon Aaron Menard, 18, of 25 Darcy Lane, Burrillville, was charged with murder. Bail Commissioner Patrick Burke ordered him held without bail pending arraignment Monday in District Court, Providence.

Detective Lt. Michael C. Rheaume said that Nicole Sherman, who lived in an apartment building at 11 Esmond St., adjacent to the neighborhood center, was asleep with Menard when the couple was awakened by “something rustling at the screen.”

He said the pair went outside to investigate, and confronted Wanamaker, who was dressed in “dark clothing.” He said a confrontation erupted.

“Kenneth was stabbed three times and succumbed,” he said. He added that Sherman was not involved in the fight.

Rheaume said that Wanamaker and Sherman were the parents of a 2-year-old child whom the father would on occasion pick up for a visit. He said Wanamaker and Sherman were on speaking terms. There was no indication of bad blood, Rheaume said. “We don’t know if it was jealousy,” he said.

He said there was no indication that drugs or alcohol were involved. He said a check of Menard’s record showed that he had been charged with assault some weeks ago in an unrelated case.

Rheaume said that investigators at first regarded the suspect as a witness. Menard then went to police headquarters voluntarily, he said, to answer questions. “Later on it turned out he was involved, more than just having been at the location” of the slaying, he said.

The suspect was then taken into custody at headquarters, Rheaume said, and gave a statement in which he told investigators where to look for the knife allegedly used in the crime. He said officers found the weapon where the suspect had indicated.

The parking lot where the body was found lies adjacent to scenic Esmond Park, where Esmond Street ends at Waterman Avenue, about a half-mile from Town Hall. By yesterday afternoon there was nothing to show what had taken place, the crime scene having been cleared by investigators. The neighborhood center had not yet opened for the day.

The neighborhood is a quiet one, with sparse pedestrian traffic. A row of nearby 19th century mill houses runs along Esmond Street.

Across the street from the neighborhood center, light manufacturing businesses have taken over space in old mill buildings that stretch along the west bank of the Woonasquatucket River.

Crimes of violence are unusual in Smithfield, a quiet suburb.

In 2001, a construction worker killed a foreman in an argument over a T-shirt.

In 2000, the body of a woman was found in a barrel in Stump Pond.

In 1998, Stephen P. McGinn, deputy public works director, and his wife, Eleanor M. “Ellie” McGinn, deputy town clerk, were found dead at their home. The police said Stephen McGinn killed himself with car exhaust fumes after strangling his wife.

tmorgan@projo.com