Two homeless men face murder charges in the death of another homeless man found dead Sunday in the Santa Fe River downtown. He sustained stab wounds and blunt-force trauma to his head.

Christopher Rose, 45, died of the stab wounds, although Sgt. Jason Wagner on Tuesday declined to release details on where Rose was stabbed.

Detectives arrested the suspects Monday night and early Tuesday morning. Richard Eastman, 40, was already in jail on four bench warrants when he was charged with an open count of murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, conspiracy and tampering with evidence. Scott Claybaugh, 40, was charged with the same counts.

Wagner said Tuesday that both men had confessed to killing Rose. Wagner said Claybaugh and Eastman got into "an ordinary kind of dispute" with Rose, who was annoying them, and that the confrontation escalated.

Santa Fe Police Chief Aric Wheeler said the stabbing likely occurred near where the body was found lying in shallow water near DeVargas Park, in the 300 block of DeVargas Street.

Police aren't sure when the altercation took place, Wheeler said.

Online Santa Fe County jail records indicate that Eastman was booked into the facility at 7:09 p.m. Saturday. Eastman has been arrested five times since October 2007 — his most recent arrest was July 12 — for liquor violations and bench warrants, according to jail records.

Claybaugh previously was arrested in December 2005, although jail records do not indicate the exact charges at the time.

Wheeler said Rose, who may have been from the East Coast, had been in Santa Fe about four months.

Rose had been arrested July 1 for drinking in public, July 13 for falsely obtaining services and Aug. 11 for drinking alcohol in an unlicensed place, according to jail records.

Rose's death marks Santa Fe's fourth suspected homicide this year.

Contact Jason Auslander at 986-3076 or :jauslander@sfnewmexican.com.