Police: Affair leads to stabbing in Stoddard County

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- A Bernie, Mo., man was behind bars Tuesday morning following a stabbing Thursday night in Bernie.

Ronald Leroy Baker, 52, was arrested Friday night and charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action.

According to the probable-cause statement filed by Bernie patrolman J.W. Atkinson, on Thursday night a Bernie woman invited Baker to her home for sex. While at the residence, the woman's husband returned home.

An altercation reportedly began and at some point during the fight, Baker allegedly pulled out a knife and stabbed the husband four or five times in the abdomen causing "superficial wounds."

Baker is currently in the Stoddard County Jail facing a $17,500 cash-only bond. He will appear for arraignment Thursday morning before Judge Joe Z. Satterfield.

After the initial assault, Baker allegedly pulled out a larger knife and threatened to "take care of the job."

Both knives, one of which was covered in blood, were recovered at the scene.

Statements by all of the parties involved are conflicting, with Baker and the wife having stories that varied in multiple interviews.

During the arrest, Baker told officers he had been having an affair with the woman for four or five months. He said the husband came through the door and started attacking him and claimed the husband had originally pulled the knife.

The first knife, with a blade less than two inches long, was recovered from Baker's pocket, while the larger knife was found under a couch cushion inside the home.

In the wife's first statement to police she stated that Baker came over knowing that her husband did not want him there and denied any affair. She stated that when the fight began and she saw the blood she ran to her children's bedroom.

In a later interview, she acknowledged the affair and admitted to calling and inviting him over to the home.

In another later interview, Baker admitted to sticking the little knife in his back pocket and sliding the large one under the couch cushion but maintained his claim the black knife was not his.

The report reads, "he then stated he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and that he would not lie. If he was going to use a knife he would have used his big knife."

He admitted to stabbing the husband "two or three" times but said it was only after he was stabbed as well.