Woman arrested after allegedly stabbing man in the head and stomach

IDAHO FALLS – A 36-year-old woman was arrested on Tuesday after allegedly stabbing a man in the head and stomach.

Saleena Vontella Peterson was charged with felony aggravated battery using a deadly weapon or instrument.

Idaho Falls Police were called to an apartment on Whittier Street after receiving reports of a domestic disturbance. When officers arrived, they knocked on the door, but nobody answered.

Officers were able to contact the reporting party in a nearby apartment, who said her son had been stabbed once in his head and once in his stomach about 20 minutes prior.

According to court documents, the man showed up at his mother’s apartment “covered in blood.” Officers reportedly noticed blood drops on the front porch.

Officers met with the victim at EIRMC, who said he was stabbed in an alley near the Stinker Store on 1st Street.

The victim said about six months prior, he was stabbed approximately six times by a woman identified as Peterson.

Officers followed up with the victim the next day at his home, noting he was “walking slowly and breathing heavily.”

When asked what happened the night before, the victim said he was “jumped by strangers in an alley.” When asked if Peterson stabbed him, the victim said there was a no-contact order between the two.

The victim then allowed an officer to search his home, where he found “trace amounts of suspected blood on the kitchen floor.”

Officers also reportedly found “broken glass in a nearby garbage and small pieces still on the floor” before noticing that Peterson was asleep in a bedroom.

An officer woke her up and reminded her of the no-contact order.

The victim and Peterson said the no-contact order had been “amended to where it was still in effect, but they could see each other.”

The officer told them he had never heard of an amendment like that and placed Peterson in handcuffs until he figured out if the amendment was real.

While walking Peterson to the living room, she reportedly said to the victim, “You really called the cops on me?” He denied it and said he ran into the officer outside.

The officer then began interviewing Peterson, who initially said “nothing happened” between her and the victim.

She then said they got into a “verbal argument,” but parted ways afterward.

The officer noticed that Peterson’s top lip was cut, and asked how she got hurt. Peterson said she “tripped and hit her face on the floor.” She then changed her story and said the victim “hit her with a white shelf in the face,” according to court documents.

Peterson said she was “talking on the phone to a friend, and he didn’t like it, so he hit me in the face with a shelf.”

She then explained that she needed to protect herself, so she “grabbed the first thing she could and swung it at him.” According to the police reports, she had grabbed a broken piece of glass from a mirror that had broken during their fight. Peterson was reportedly unsure where it hit the victim.

Before the glass was thrown, Peterson said she “held (the victim) down in the bedroom to stop him from getting her.”

The officer discovered the no-contact order had not yet been served to Peterson, but still decided to detain her due to the alleged domestic violence incident.

During an interview with the victim, he stated that while trying to get away from Peterson in the bedroom, he “felt something hit the top of his head” and saw “something black in (Peterson’s) hand, which he recognized as an attachment to his TV.”

According to the victim, he had “blood running down his face and eyes, impairing his vision.”

He then felt a “slice in his abdomen,” so he began swinging his fists and punched Peterson in the face.

He then turned and exited the apartment and walked to his mother’s home.

A detective later spoke to a neighbor who witnessed the victim leaving the apartment with Peterson behind him. According to the neighbor, Peterson was holding the victim by the back of his shirt as he tried to escape her.

Peterson reportedly asked the neighbor to stop the victim and call the police. The victim got away when Peterson allegedly yelled she was “going to kill him.”

The neighbor says she then heard Peterson walk around the apartment building yelling, “I’m going to kill you b****” multiple times.

Peterson denied knowing how the victim got the wound on the top of his head, denied hitting him there, and said she “did not remember what she yelled” at the victim.

Peterson was then arrested and booked into the Bonneville County Jail with a bond of $10,000. A no-contact order was issued for the victim.

Peterson is expected to appear for a preliminary hearing on Oct. 11. If convicted, she could face up to 15 years in prison.

Though Peterson has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean she committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.