USA victim known by the community

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - There's a lot of sadness and shock in the Five Points neighborhood where 19-year-old James Dean grew up.

"That thing hurt me so. I cried so - like it was my own - because he was such a good child. Who would want to hurt him?," said Phyllis Zunica.

Zunica lives down the street. Neighbors said Dean was expected to join the Navy this year. Instead, he was found stabbed to death in his friend's dorm at the University of South Alabama early Sunday.

"It was just crazy how it happened right down the hall from us, and we never heard anything," Malik Harris said.

Harris said it was an unnerving experience when he and other students found out about the murder.

No one knows what happened between the two men who were often seen together on the USA campus.

Both the suspect and the murder victim attended Murphy High School. They graduated last year.

"Who wold want to hurt him? Just meek and humble. 'Yes ma'am. No ma'am. Yes sir. No sir,' - he'd walk by and speak," Zunica said.

Campus police are handling the investigation. They said they're preparing to turn their evidence over to the district attorney's office.