Police had multiple chances to nab suspect

Elias Abuelazam was questioned by police twice on the same day last month in Michigan, msnbc.com has learned, marking the second and third times police are known to have investigated him since the string of 18 stabbings in three states — five of them fatal — began in late May.

In neither of the cases were police able to make the connection.

The Associated Press previously reported that Abuelazam was arrested last week during a traffic stop and later released in Northern Virginia.

Court records on file in 67th District Court in Genessee County, Mich., show that Abuelazam was also charged on the afternoon of July 29 with providing alcohol to a minor, which carries a $40 fine. Later that evening, he was stopped for a $125 traffic violation. Both fines were due next week.

In the traffic citation, Abuelazam gave his address as a unit in the Fountain Lakes Apartments in Bradenton, Fla., where 1- and 2-bedroom units are listed as renting for $829 to $949 a month. It's the same address listed on his arrest warrant in the stabbing two days earlier of Antwoine Marshall, 26, of Flint, the only attack in which Abuelazam is currently charged.