Perhaps because I have a strange compulsion to obtain facts so I understand the human motivations behind crimes, every once in a while I'll find myself utterly baffled over a news story, and a really creepy series of fatal stabbings in Flint, Michigan has left me without a clue.

It was widely speculated that the stabbings -- invariably involving unprovoked attacks on frail or elderly black men allegedly by a white man -- might have been perpetrated as a hate crime, and a sketch of the suspect was widely circulated. The story was on the front page of the Detroit Free Press and it has been receiving national attention.

Something about the stabbings made me suspect a very twisted, most likely emotional, possibly even a sexual motive. It occurred to me that if this was a white man, he might have a bizarre fixation on black men as a target of revenge. Why didn't he also target women? Why didn't he target whites? What sort of grudge might this man have had? Was he harmed by black people (possibly in prison) and might this caused him to blame an entire race in a psychotic rage?

I didn't blog about it only because there was nothing I could do but speculate, but now that the guy has been arrested, I'm even more baffled. They caught him trying to board a plane to Israel.

FLINT -- Police have a man in custody in connection with the Flint serial stabbings that left as many as five dead, officials said this morning.

The man was arrested Wednesday evening at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, airport spokesman Al Snedeker said this morning.

The man who has "strong ties" to the Flint and Leesburg, Va., areas was arrested after "one of the tips developed into a strong investigative lead," Leesburg, Va., police spokesman Chris Jones said in a statement this morning.

He's being being held on unrelated charges, according to Jones.

"While this is a key step in the investigation, there are still many issues that need to be addressed before we identify this individual as the person responsible for this horrific crime spree," Jones said.

• MORE: At Flint party store, anger suspect wasn't caught sooner

He was scheduled to board Delta's 10:15 p.m. flight to Tel Aviv from Atlanta, airline officials said this morning.

So what does that mean? Why would this suspect be trying to flee to Israel?

And now that they have given his name, I am even more baffled:

FLINT, Michigan -- A warrant was signed Aug. 12 by Flint District Court Tracey Collier-Nix that charges Elias Abuelazam, 33, in connection with the Flint serial stabbings.

The only thing I could learn in an online search for the name "Elias Abuelazam" was this court record which states that a man of that name had been employed as a mental health worker for a Leesburg psychiatric facility, and pursued an unsuccessful disability claim acting as his own attorney:

The parties stipulated that, on December 8, 2002, the claimant was an employee of Piedmont Behavioral Heath Center, the employer had three or more employees regularly in service and the claimant was involved in an incident arising out of and in the course of his employment.

The employer defended on the grounds that the claim was barred by the statute of limitations, that there was no injury by accident and that medical treatment was not causally related to the December 8, 2002 accident.

The evidence is summarized here only to the extent necessary to explain our conclusions reached on Review.[2]

The claimant testified that, on December 8, 2002, he was employed as a mental health technician with the employer. On that date, he was monitoring the residents in a basketball game when his foot got caught on the carpeted basketball court when walking to the left causing him to trip and twist his ankle. He stated he reported it that same day to his supervisor Mike Johnson at which time an accident report was completed. The claimant stated he was given a copy of the accident report.

Now for my cynical analysis. As race narratives seem to determine the fate of these stories, and as this was said to be a "hate crime," I think the most salient fact will be whether this man is determined to be white.

In that regard, his name might matter. For example, what if "Abuelazam" is phonetic for something like "Abu al Assam"? He would still be white, but there are some multiculturalists who might argue otherwise. Not that whiteness should matter to any rational person, but since when is this stuff dealt with on a strictly rational basis? And what if he turned out to be a Muslim? Might that present, um, narrative issues?

Again, it's all speculation. I assume the facts will eventually come in and be reported.

But I am more puzzled than ever; hence the speculation.

MORE: The AJC is reporting that the man had an expired Israeli passport:

A suspected serial killer captured at the Atlanta airport had an expired Israeli passport and was about to board a plane to Tel Aviv when agents from several law enforcement agencies swooped in Wednesday, according to authorities and news accounts.

It was not clear if the man had passed through security at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport or if he was simply changing planes in Atlanta, but he had reached a boarding gate. The spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Authority told The Atlanta Journal-constitution air traffic into and out of Hartsfield-Jackson was not affected.

Investigators first thought there was a pattern based on the victims' race. Initially they were frail, elderly black men. But two white men and a 17-year-old have since been added to the list. Three victims were in Leesburg, Va., one was in Toledo, Ohio, and the rest were in Flint.

The most recent attack was the one in Toledo, according to a Detroit television station. In that case, a minister who had stepped outside his church to smoke was stabbed, Genesee County prosecutor David Leyton told the television station.

Survivors said the man would ask for directions or help with a broken-down car and would suddenly pull a knife, stab them and then drive away.

The store manager told Local 4 the man worked there less than a month and he had not been back since Aug. 1, the Michigan station reported.

"He was friendly. He was a nice guy," manager Abdullah Farrah told Local 4.

Farrah said the man was polite to all customers and he never treated African-Americans one way and white customers another.

Regular customers knew the man as "Eli," according to the Flint Journal.

Beecher resident Monica Butler told the paper he was flirtatious with female customers.

"He would always try to pick them up or get a number," she said.

AND MORE: Here's a story describing the suspect as "white to Middle Eastern":

A nationwide hunt continues for a serial killer who's accused of stabbing several men, including one in Toledo.

The random acts of violence-- from Flint Michigan, to Leesburg Virginia, to Toledo --are similar.

Police say a white to Middle Eastern man asks for directions or help with his broken down car, then attacks.

Almost all the victims have been black men. Authorities warn the suspect is extremely violent.

The more the facts change, the more my compulsion to know the facts becomes insatiable.

MORE: An ABC video report:

I have tried embedding it twice, but the code doesn't seem to work. The link is here.

And here's the police sketch that the Free Press ran:

What annoys me the most about this story was the way that it seemed people wanted it to be about race.

What people want should play no role in reporting facts.

But hey, at least this doesn't appear to be one of those crimes that can be linked to those awful Tea Party nuts!

MORE: According to a report by his ex mother-in-law Abuelazam is Catholic:

She said her daughter, whom she did not want to identify, married Abuelazam on July 30, 2004 in Leesburg, Va. Hirth said she knew that her daughter and Abuelazam had fought at times and divorced in 2007.

Hirth said her daughter and Abuelazam met in Texas while he was visiting cousins who lived there. She said Abuelazam was Catholic.

In Leesburg, he worked at a hospital, Hirth said.

She said Abuelazam has a sister who lives in Leesburg.

"He's originally from Israel and his mother lives there and his uncles," Hirth said.

Hirth said she thinks Abuelazam was born in Israel and that he had been in the United States for 10 years before he met her daughter.

MORE: Even though they saw the car which had been described in reports, the suspect's neighbors failed to report him because his Middle Eastern appearance did not fit the description of a white man:

Neighbors said they had seen a green GMC Jimmy-type of vehicle at the house on the 3700 block of Maryland until recently.

Neighbor Janet Hutchinson said the man who lived in the house kept to himself, though it's a tight-knit block with neighbors recently forming a neighborhood watch after several recent home break-ins done by kids in the area.

"It's a total shock," she said of the possibility that she was living a couple of houses away from the suspected killer.

Neighbor Carrie Strang said she last saw a green GMC Jimmy with gold trim around the bottom "right after they came out with the description of it."

She said she and other neighbors had said they didn't think to notify police, because the sketch and description was of a white man and the man who lived in this house was of Middle-Eastern descent.

Can anyone tell me?

Is there no end to the national obsession with race?

UPDATE: This story is being spun in many media circles as an anti-Israel narrative.

MORE: Via Glenn Reynolds, it's time to play "Name that ethnicity."

Can't say I didn't see it coming.