Police: Woman attacks man after reading of his arrest

~ Richard B. Stemmerick required stitches after the assault with a butcher knife.

A Cape Girardeau man charged with child endangerment was attacked by a knife-wielding woman upset at him for leaving his 2-year-old daughter home alone.

Tiffany N. Wilkins, 25, of 824 Good Hope St., chased the man out into the street with a knife in the 400 block of Bellevue Street around 11:25 p.m. Thursday, according to a probable-cause statement.

The man, Richard B. Stemmerick, 37, was slashed under his chin, on his left elbow and on his right arm, police spokesman Jason Selzer said.

Stemmerick was arrested the evening of April 13 by the Missouri State Highway Patrol on an out-of-state warrant for a traffic violation, and he failed to tell the trooper that his daughter was home alone at the time.

The girl was found by a family member 18 hours after Stemmerick's arrest in her crib with no food or water, Selzer said.

Stemmerick was charged Tuesday with misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child. He secured a $1,500 bond and was released the same day.

On Thursday, Stemmerick was at a friend's house in the 400 block of Bellevue Street when Wilkins, whom he had known for about three months, came over.

"You left your baby home alone," she said to Stemmerick, according to the statement.

Wilkins, who read about Stemmerick's arrest for child endangerment in the newspaper, began chasing him with a butcher knife, the statement read.

Stemmerick ran to his home at 509 Bellevue St. and called the police. He was taken to a local hospital where he received stitches to his chin and right arm, according to the statement.

Wilkins, who was arrested about two and a half hours after the attack, was charged Friday with felony second-degree assault and felony unlawful use of a weapon. She was also arrested on a St. Louis warrant for an unrelated assault.

She claimed in the statement that Stemmerick had swung at her several times and she in turn attacked him with a glass bottle.

If Wilkins secures her $15,000 bond, she must have no contact with Stemmerick and is required to stay more than 500 feet away from his home and place of employement.

kmorrison@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127