Timothy Lee Lagrone stabbed Barry Moore Jr. to death last month because of a woman, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing Wednesday.

Lagrone was angry that Moore had been calling Melissa Downs, who was Lagrone's girlfriend and Moore's ex-girlfriend, a witness testified. Police and prosecutors had not previously presented a motive in the case.

At the hearing, Lagrone was ordered to stand trial on a criminal homicide charge in connection with the Oct. 18 slaying.

Investigators said Lagrone, 25, used "brutally excessive deadly force," stabbing Moore more than a dozen times during the fight inside the farmhouse at 2001 Pine Drive in East Lampeter Township where Lagrone and Downs lived.

Moore, 38, aroused Lagrone's ire by contacting Downs on the day of the slaying, witness Staci Quigley testified before District Judge Denise Commins.

Lagrone and Downs had driven out to pick up Quigley and her boyfriend, Jared Weiss. As the four drove back to the Pine Drive house, Moore called Downs and left a message on her cell phone, Quigley said. It was one of many times Moore called Downs that day, according to testimony.

"If I have to go into combat, someone's gonna die," Lagrone said, according to Quigley. He made the statement about an hour before the killing, she said.

Lagrone and Downs wondered aloud if Moore would be at the house when they returned. Moore had once lived at the house with Downs, according to testimony, and had arranged to pick up some clothes he had left behind.

Lagrone repeated to himself, "I hope he is there. I wish he is there," Quigley testified.

Quigley, a longtime friend of Moore, asked why.

"I got something for him if he comes," Lagrone answered, displaying a folding pocketknife.

According to police testimony, Lagrone used the knife to stab Moore 17 times. Moore had puncture wounds on his neck, back and chest, according to an autopsy report.

The fatal fight was outlined this way at Wednesday's hearing:

Moore arrived at the home about 7 p.m. Outside, he was given his belongings and told to leave.

Instead, he walked through the front door, asking, "What, I can't come in?"

"What, you want something?" Lagrone answered.

As the two men confronted each other in the living room, Downs intervened and tried to separate them. Lagrone pushed her aside.

Quigley testified that Moore struck the first blow, "slapping" Lagrone in the head and knocking off his glasses.

The two men then collided in a "bear hug," Quigley said.

They fell onto a recliner, with Moore on top of Lagrone. Lagrone wrestled Moore onto his back and began striking him. Quigley said she and Weiss thought Lagrone was only throwing punches until they saw Moore's shirt tear.

At some point, Quigley fled upstairs to a bedroom. After the fight, Weiss came upstairs and told her, "Tim just stabbed Barry like 100 times, and I think he's dead."

Lagrone then walked into the bedroom, looking for alcohol to drink.

"This guy's not doing so good down here," Lagrone told Quigley and Weiss.

On Wednesday, Lagrone was dressed in orange prison garb. He was clean-shaven, with short brown hair and thin-rimmed glasses.

Downs was at the judge's office but was not allowed to attend the hearing because she is being sequestered for trial.

Assistant district attorneys Edwin Pfursich and Christine Wilson presented testimony from Quigley and two police officers.

Defense attorney Mark Walmer didn't call any witnesses. When he tried to press Quigley on the content of Moore's messages to Downs, Pfursich objected, and the judge ruled the questions irrelevant.

After all testimony, Commins bound over Lagrone's case to Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas. She denied bail.

E-mail: bhambright@lnpnews.com