A 34-year-old Wisconsin woman, Jamie Anderson, is facing charges of attempted first-degree intentional homicide using a dangerous weapon, following an incident where she allegedly tried to kill her father. The charges also include a domestic abuse assessment, which could potentially influence the severity of her sentence.
The incident took place on July 1, at the father’s residence in Stoughton, a small town approximately 20 miles southeast of Madison. According to the Stoughton Police Department, Anderson is believed to have walked around 16 miles from her Madison apartment to her father’s home during the early hours of the morning.
Upon reaching her father’s home, Anderson rang the doorbell. When her father answered the door, Anderson reportedly expressed a desire to stop hallucinating. According to a criminal complaint, she then asked her father for a hug. However, her father, suspecting drug use, asked her if she was under the influence.
This question allegedly triggered Anderson to attempt to stab her father in the head. The complaint states that multiple stabbing attempts followed, some of which resulted in injuries. Anderson reportedly repeated threats to kill her father during the altercation.
The father managed to escape the violent encounter by pushing his daughter over a coffee table. Police officers found him on his front porch around 6 a.m., with blood on his left arm. He informed the officers that his daughter had come to his house with the intention to kill him and was still inside the house.
Police found Anderson walking down a side stairway of the house into an alleyway, holding a knife. She complied immediately when asked to drop the weapon and was arrested without further incident. Anderson reportedly admitted to the police that she had been hallucinating and believed her father was the devil. She also confessed to slashing him approximately four times with the intention to kill him.
The father sustained serious injuries from the attack, requiring staples in his head and surgery on one arm. Despite the severity of the incident, he expressed understanding towards his daughter’s actions, attributing them to her drug use.
Anderson made her first court appearance on July 25, where her bond was set at $500,000. A no-contact order was issued regarding her father in case she makes bail. She has been appointed a public defender and is scheduled to appear in court again on August 5. As of now, Anderson remains in custody at the Dane County Jail.