CASPER — A 25-year-old woman is accused of stabbing her mother,whom she described as a “witch,” and slashing the tires of her mother’s car.
Before she slashed the tires Wednesday, she told police she expectedher mother would “run her over.”
Justus Delilah Gagne made her initial appearance in Casper Circuit Court on Thursday afternoon before Judge Kevin Taheri, where she learned she was charged with aggravated assault and battery, theft, and property destruction and defacement.
“It’s alleged that she stabbed her mother. She had to go to the hospital,” Sam Forshner, Natrona County assistant district attorney, told the judge. “She also looked for her mother to run her down.”
Court records show that Casper Police Department officers were dispatched to the corner of South McKinley and 27th streets about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday for a reported stabbing that had just happened.
‘Very Violent’
Officers found Gagne’s 53-year-old mother in the stairwell of an apartment building in the 2500 block of South McKinley bleeding from her abdominal area.
An arrest affidavit states that a passerby thought the suspect was a male and that the attack appeared to be “very violent.”
Gagne’s mother was treated by EMS staff and transported to Banner Wyoming Medical Center.
During an interview with investigators, the mother told police that Gagne had shown up to the drug store where she worked, seemed fine and asked for a drink of water earlier in the day.
Gagne showed up again about 3 p.m. and asked to speak with her. She then wanted a ride to their apartment in the 2500 block of South McKinley, the mother told police.
After driving her to the apartment, the mother walked with Gagne to the apartment, unlocked the door and returned to her vehicle to go back to work, the affidavit says.
Gagne followed her back down and entered the passenger vehicle to grab her drink. The mother told police she exited the car and walked around, spoke with her daughter, and hugged her.
Hug And Stabbing
She then tried to give her daughter a kiss and noticed her daughter’s facial expression had changed and that “she was not there.”
“(The mother) immediately felt a sharp pain on her left side and looked down,” the affidavit states. The mother “observed Justus pulling her right hand away holding a pocketknife. … (she) grabbed Justus’ right arm in an effort to (keep) her from stabbing her any further.”
The affidavit states that Gagne left the area and that her mother tried to flag a car down for help and finally found a resident of the building who came out and assisted her after waiting for help to arrive.
The mother suffered two stab wounds to her body that were not life threatening but would require surgery to repair, the affidavit states.
Police tracked Gagne down at Eastbrook and Elk avenues about 15 minutes after the stabbing and found her with a pocketknife with a silver and black handle.
During an interview, police believed Gagne was under the influence of narcotics due to her mood swings from laughing to crying.
Gagne told police she had used meth in the past but was trying not to use it anymore, but would not say when she had last used the drug, the affidavit states.
She told police that she did not believe the woman she stabbed was her real mother and refused to refer to her mother using her name.
‘Dark Energy’
“(Gagne) stated that (her mother) had dark energy and was always trying to hurt her by kicking her out of the house and not helping her,” the affidavit states.
The affidavit states that Gagne referred to her mother as a “witch” in the literal sense and that when her mother told her that she “believed in Justus” the positive statements bothered her.
Gagne told the investigator that she stabbed her mother because she was “a witch with dark energy.”
Gagne then said she was suspicious that her mother had really beenstabbed because there was not blood on the knife and that when her mother grabbed her hand she used “superhuman strength” trying to take the knife.
After the stabbing, Gagne told police that she went looking for her mother to run her over and she did not know where she went — more evidence that she was a “witch,” the affidavit states.
When she could not find her mother, she drove off in her mother’s vehicle, felt “dark energy” in the vehicle, saw a figure in the mirror with “dark energy,” got out of the vehicle and “popped” the tires, the affidavit states.
Police found the vehicle in the 1900 block of South Glendale. All four tires were slashed, the affidavit states. The car had red spatters on the outside driver and passenger side of the vehicle.
No Permission To Drive
Gagne’s mother said her daughter took the vehicle without permission and has never had permission to drive it, the affidavit states.
In court Thursday afternoon, Gagne appeared sluggish at times as she answered questions from Taheri. She told the judge she understood the potential penalties for the charges and that she was “bankrupt.”
“I am pretty young, and I am trying to get my life together,” she said. “I haven’t had the support that I needed. I am not too well educated on a lot of things.”
She also told the court that she had been “dealt a bad hand.”
Forshner asked the judge for a $75,000 cash bond, calling Gagne a “substantial risk” to the community.
Taheri agreed and said he would list the Natrona County jail as the address for Gagne to get her mail instead of her mother’s apartment.
Both the aggravated assault and battery and felony theft carry penaltiesof up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The property destruction and defacement charge is punishable by up to six months in jail and a $750 fine.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
