Police: Poplar Bluff woman stabbed teen 16 times

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — A Poplar Bluff woman is being held on a $500,000 cash bond after being charged Tuesday with assaulting a teenager by stabbing her 16 times.

Jessica Ann Sincup, 27, was charged with the Class A felony of first-degree assault and the unclassified felony of armed criminal action.

Sincup was to appear Thursday before Associate Circuit Judge John Bloodworth for arraignment on the charges.

About 2:15 p.m. Monday, the Butler County, Missouri, Sheriff’s Department received a call reporting a white female lying in the middle of the road with stab wounds, according to a probable-cause statement by investigator Randle Huddleston.

“The caller told us it was at the end of South B Street,” Butler County Sheriff Mark Dobbs said. “He initially stated it was two black males (who were suspected), and he merely found the victim while driving to a fishing spot on the river bank.”

Upon arrival, Dobbs said, deputies found the caller, Michael Sincup, on what the sheriff described as a steep river bank off County Road 606, holding onto the arm of the 17-year-old victim.

The victim had multiple deep lacerations consistent with stab wounds on her upper/lower torso, neck and back, Huddleston said.

“Paramedics on the scene stated they counted 16 deep wounds” on the victim, who was flown to a trauma center in St. Louis for treatment, Huddleston said.

As the victim was being treated, officers interviewed Michael Sincup; his mother, Dawn Sincup; and a juvenile who was at the scene, Huddleston said.

He said the juvenile reported he had been taken to Dawn Sincup’s residence on Route B, where they “met up with ‘Lil Mike’ (Michael Sincup).

“He stated there were several other people in the home, including ‘Jess’ (Jessica Sincup), who stated she was going to pick up her friend to go swimming and left.”

Dobbs said Jessica Sincup had “concocted a diabolical plot to get the victim to the location in order to exact revenge upon her, as she believed the victim was having an affair with her husband.”

Apparently Jessica Sincup told the victim she was going to help her acquire a refrigerator and “convinced her to go to the river to have a swim” first, Dobbs said.

The juvenile said while the women were gone, he, Dawn Sincup and her son went to a house by the river, Huddleston said.

“He stated while they were there, J. Sincup pulled up in the driveway and got out of her vehicle,” Huddleston said. “He stated that J. Sincup was alone and ‘soaking wet’. ...”

Huddleston said the juvenile further reported Jessica Sincup “stated that she had stabbed a girl and ‘dropped the knife in the water.’”

The juvenile told police he and all three Sincups went to the levee near a trash pile, where Jessica Sincup showed her husband and mother-in-law the victim’s location.

“He stated he was left alone in the vehicle, and then a short time later, D. Sincup came back with J. Sincup, and they took her” to the residence by the river, where they had been earlier, so “she would not be there when the cops arrived.”

Huddleston said the juvenile reported he and Dawn Sincup returned to the river and were there when deputies arrived.

Like Michael Sincup, Dobbs said, his mother “gave several false accounts” of what allegedly happened and “put pressure” (on the juvenile) to corroborate their story about two black male suspects.

Huddleston said Michael Sincup subsequently told officers his wife had admitted to stabbing the victim and left prior to deputies’ arrival.

On Tuesday morning, members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s dive team found the knife — which appeared to be a deer-skinning knife with a 4- to 5-inch blade — along the river bank.

Pertinent address:

Poplar Bluff, Mo.