Cape man accused of stabbing another during camping trip

A Cape Girardeau man stabbed a man twice in the back during a camping trip Sunday near Alton, Missouri, police said.

The Oregon County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Gabriel M. Austin, 34, with first-degree assault and armed criminal action, both felonies.

Oregon County sheriff’s deputies investigated reports of a stabbing shortly before 3 a.m. at Hufstedler Camp Ground and found Weston Loveland of Cape Girardeau with two stab wounds to his back, according to a probable-cause statement filed in the case by deputy Rich Matteson.

Loveland told police he’d been watching a campfire when he felt a sudden pain in his back, Matteson wrote.

Realizing he’d been stabbed, Loveland turned to see Austin advancing with a knife, according to the statement.

The victim sustained stab wounds to his left shoulder blade and to his lower back near his spine, according to the statement.

Loveland was airlifted to a hospital in Springfield, Missouri, according to a news release issued by the sheriff’s office.

Loveland’s girlfriend, Carol Kellison, who was nearby in the campground but did not see the stabbing, said Monday that Loveland remained in the hospital, but he may be discharged by Tuesday morning. She said the knife missed vital areas, but the wounds were deep.

Loveland told deputies he did not know why Austin stabbed him, Matteson wrote.

Deputies found Austin in the campsite, sitting alone in the dark, covered in blood and rocking back and forth, according to the statement.

He was compliant but declined to talk with deputies at the sheriff’s office and requested a lawyer, Matteson wrote.

Deputies recovered a black folding knife belonging to Austin, covered in blood and stuck in the ground near the scene of the stabbing, Matteson wrote.

Another knife also belonging to Austin was recovered nearby, still in the sheath, according to the statement.

Austin’s bond was set at $50,000.

tgraef@semissourian.com

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