Cedar Hills resident Chris McCullock initially thought the thud at his front door late one night a month ago was a sign of vandalism.

When he looked out the window and saw red, he thought somebody had splashed his porch with paint. A shocking notion, given the quiet neighborhood he lives in, he said.

"It soon dawned on me that it wasn't red paint -- it was blood," he said.

Alone, clad in basketball shorts and slippers and armed with a flashlight, McCullock, 41, ventured out into the night to follow the red trail. He said fear gripped him, but his mind blocked thoughts of any other course of action. The trail led across his yard and into another. And another.

"I started to follow that trail, which led to Marcus," he said. "He made it three yards and across the street."

Marcus Parmenter, a 26-year-old neighbor he had never met, lay bleeding on the ground, a stab wound in his neck. Still visibly shaken by the events of that night, McCullock explained what happened next. He shared the story with the Daily Herald on Tuesday night after being honored by the Cedar Hills City Council as a lifesaving hero.

"I asked him the silliest question you can ever ask anybody in that situation, which is, 'Are you OK?' " he said. "I had no idea what to do. That's probably the worst part of the whole thing, is, you don't know what to do."

So instinct kicked in, McCullock said. He ran to a neighbor's house and asked them to call the police, then returned to Parmenter's side. Using "just the stuff you pick up as a Tenderfoot Scout," he knelt behind Parmenter, resting the wounded man's head on his chest and applied pressure to the wound using his sweatshirt. Emergency responders soon arrived to take Parmenter to the hospital, where he remained for three days.

Parmenter, a reserved man who is clearly uneasy discussing that night, recalled simply, "I remember everything vividly."

Still wearing a large bandage on the let side of his neck, with a visible scar running to the right side, he declined to go into detail about what happened. But he said he was able to give McCullock his name and the name of his attacker.

Sgt. Shawn Richins of the American Fork Police Department identified the attacker as Karl Luedecke, Parmenter's roommate. Richins, who was present for the city council ceremony, said officers found Parmenter's car abandoned by the side of the road on Dec. 1, about half an hour after the attack. They apprehended Luedecke, who apparently had stabbed Parmenter in the house before taking the car and leaving. Richins said police don't think Luedecke targeted Parmenter, but rather was frustrated in other areas of his life.

"I think it was a total surprise to the victim," Richins said.

Luedecke remains in Utah County Jail on a charge of attempted murder.

Parmenter recovered enough to be released from the hospital ahead of schedule but didn't immediately return home. Instead, he went to stay with his parents in Spanish Fork. He has since moved back into the home where the attack took place and says he is "doing really well." He said McCullock deserves every ounce of praise that comes his way.

"I don't know that a lot of people would have had the courage to do what he did," he said tearfully. "I'm just happy that Chris McCullock was there. If he hadn't been, it's very likely that I wouldn't be here today."

Parmenter's father, Jeff, was also present for the ceremony. He said McCullock's actions have given him faith that there are heros in his community again.

"The word 'hero' has been defined for us through the actions of Chris McCullock," he said. "He has literally given us back our son, for which we will be eternally grateful."

For his part, McCullock deflects most of the hero talk. "I think I was more scared than he was, literally," he said. "I just did what anyone would have done, because there was just no choice. I'm not saying that to appear humble, it's just a fact."

Parmenter said the two men may not have known each other before the attack, but the tragedy forged a relationship that will last.

"As long as he'll tolerate me, we'll be friends," he said.

• Ace Stryker can be reached at 344-2556 or astryker@heraldextra.com