A Cumru Township man charged with attempted murder of a housemate — a woman who police said was on a cellphone video call with a female friend when she was stabbed in the stomach with a steak knife — is in custody after eluding capture for five weeks.

Zachary D. Webb was captured Monday night in a motel in the Adamstown area by members of a U.S. Marshal’s task force, which included members of the Berks County Sheriff’s Office, officials said.

Webb, 45, whose last known address was in the 300 block of Pershing Boulevard, was committed to Berks County Prison in lieu of $500,000 bail to await a hearing following arraignment Monday night before District Judge Steven M. Chieffo in Reading Central Court.

Webb faces charges of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault and related counts.

According to the probable cause affidavit:

Cumru police were dispatched shortly before 2 a.m. May 1 to the residence for a report of a 28-year-old woman suffering from an accidental knife wound to the stomach.

Police were met by Webb’s girlfriend. She took them to the victim, who shared the residence with the couple.

The patient was lying on her back with a steak knife stuck in her abdomen. She told police that she was in the kitchen alone and got a knife to cut a piece of chicken when she slipped and fell, accidentally stabbing herself.

Webb told officers that he was in the bathroom shaving his head when he heard what sounded like someone falling. He thought it was another housemate, a man who is bedridden. Webb went downstairs to check on the man who was in a recliner in the living room and found the woman on the floor.

He woke up his girlfriend. She said she went downstairs and found her friend on the floor and called 911.

Emergency dispatchers told police of a second 911 call regarding the incident. That caller, a woman who did not reside with the victim, said she was on a video call with the victim.

She said the victim, while on the call, left her bedroom and went into the kitchen to get something to eat.

The woman said she heard her friend fall but wasn’t looking at her screen at the time.

When she looked back at the screen, she saw blood on the floor and a knife. She said the woman told her to call 911.

The victim was in a good mood during their conversation, she told investigators, and did not allude to self-harm.

About eight hours later, Officer Leon Grim spoke to the victim in Reading Hospital. She had just undergone surgery and said she wanted to change her account of how she was injured.

She told Grim that her roommate’s boyfriend, Webb, had intentionally stabbed her.

According to her, Webb believed his girlfriend was cheating on him and became enraged when the victim took the girlfriend’s side.

In a subsequent interview, the victim told detectives that prior to the stabbing Webb had been upset all day. She said he uses methamphetamine and PCP, which cause him to suffer insomnia and manic states.

The victim said Webb and his girlfriend picked her up at work in Exeter Township the night before.

After they returned home about 8:30, she heard Webb and his girlfriend arguing well into the night in their second-floor bedroom. The victim stayed in her room and talked to her friend on her phone.

At some point, Webb and his girlfriend stopped arguing, and the victim went into the kitchen to get a beer.

Her back was turned to the stairs when Webb came down and started cursing at her and calling her names.

She said she ignored him. She heard him open a kitchen drawer. As she turned toward him he stabbed her with a steak knife. She fell against the sink counter, and Webb ran upstairs.

She screamed to her friend with whom she was chatting via Facetime that Webb had stabbed her.

The victim said she called for Webb’s girlfriend, who came down and asked what happened. She implored her female housemate to go with her to the hospital, telling her that she needed to watch out for herself against Webb’s paranoid, violent disposition.

When asked why she said had told police initially that she fell while preparing to cut a piece of chicken, the victim said she didn’t want Webb to hear her say that he stabbed her because she feared for the safety of her friend.

Where to find help

Call 9-1-1 if you or someone you know are in immediate danger.

To seek the help of an advocate or to contact Safe Berks, call the 24-hour hotline, 844-789-SAFE (7233) or text SAFE BERKS to 20121.

Safe Berks provides free and confidential services for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault 24 hours a day. All services are available in English and Spanish, and translation will be used for any other language needed.