Cape woman charged with assault after alleged attack on neighbor

A Cape Girardeau woman has been charged with second-degree assault, prosecutors said, after allegedly hitting another resident of her apartment building in the head -- causing her to need three stitches -- when the alleged victim asked the woman if she had seen anyone randomly knocking on doors.

Debra T. Pitts, 58, is being held at the Cape Girardeau County Jail on a $10,000 bond. If Pitts posts bond, a judge ordered her to have no contact with the victim.

The victim, a woman who lives on the same floor of Pitts' West End Boulevard apartment building, was found by police a short time after the alleged attack with blood on her head, neck and shirt, clutching a skillet apparently to defend herself if her alleged attacker returned, according to a probable-cause statement filed with the court.

The alleged victim told police she was walking the building's third-floor hallway and stopped at an apartment at which the door was partially open. She asked Pitts if she had heard or seen anyone knocking on doors, the statement said, and Pitts replied that she didn't know. Pitts said that it was not her, and then began to hit the alleged victim with open hands and closed fists, according to the statement.

Pertinent address:

611 S. West End Blvd., Cape Girardeau, Mo.