by April Scheinoha
Editor
A Thief River Falls woman has been charged with attempted murder after she allegedly attempted to cut a boy’s throat on Sunday morning.
Edwina Marie Stoutenbergh, 34, has been charged with felony offenses of attempted second degree murder without intent and second degree assault. She was taken to Sanford Medical Center and then to the Pennington County Jail.
The charges stemmed from a report Sunday morning, according to the complaint. The Pennington County Sheriff’s Office initially received a report that a child’s throat had been cut. It was later determined that Stoutenbergh had allegedly attempted to cut the sleeping boy’s throat; however, the knife was too dull to slice his throat. She sharpened the knife and planned to return to his room, but she didn’t return to his room. The boy had apparent marks on his neck. The complaint didn’t indicate the boy’s age.
Upon arriving at the scene in Pennington County, deputies encountered several juveniles inside a vehicle. Deputies determined the kids were safe and then proceeded to the home, where they encountered Stoutenbergh “standing outside in very little clothing.” Given the nature of the call, deputies handcuffed her, leading Stoutenbergh to say “don’t take them off.” Several times, she allegedly said “‘they’ made her do various things.” It was later determined that Stoutenbergh was referring to demons.
Once at the emergency room, Stoutenbergh allegedly said she awoke to demons inside of her taking over her body. The demons, which were named bondage and infirmity, told her to eat a piece of dog feces and an eye of a deceased duck that had to be put down a day earlier. She said it was disgusting to eat both of those things.
Saying she didn’t want to hurt the kids, Stoutenbergh allegedly said “‘they’ made her grab a knife from the kitchen” and go to the boy’s upstairs bedroom. She rolled the sleeping boy over in order to slice his throat with the same knife used on the duck. Stoutenbergh said she moved his head and made contact with his neck. However, the knife was too dull and “they” told her to sharpen the knife. She indicated that “they” wanted her to drink the boy’s blood, kill the rest of the kids, kill her husband when he arrived home from work, and then kill herself.
Stoutenbergh then sharpened the knife, but she stopped in the stairwell. The kids had become disturbed by what was happening. She allegedly said “‘they’ made her tell the children she was going to kill them, too.” Stoutenbergh tried to drop the knife, but she was unable to do so. She showed the kids the decapitated duck. Stoutenbergh told the kids that they needed to leave and gave them the keys to a vehicle.
Stoutenbergh told law enforcement that “this is the first time she has heard these voices for this long” and she was unable to control them. She said she never wanted to hurt the kids in the past. Stoutenbergh thought that they were all going to die.
Stoutenbergh’s husband gave his consent for law enforcement to search the property. They allegedly found a severed duck’s head on a cutting board next to a bloodied spoon. The kitchen sink contained a chef’s knife with apparent blood.
Her husband allegedly told deputies that he received a frantic phone call from Stoutenbergh, saying “‘they’ were taking over her body and telling her to kill the children.” He then called the sheriff’s office.