Inset: Steven Wolfe (Phelps County Jail). Background: The defendant's purported residence in Rolla, Mo. (Google Maps).
A Missouri man is behind bars after he ripped the skin off a woman's neck in a dispute over food, police in the Show-Me State say.
Steven Wolfe, 25, stands accused of one count of assault in the first degree causing serious physical injury, according to the Rolla Police Department and a criminal complaint filed by prosecutors. Law enforcement officials did not immediately release the victim's name.
The underlying incident occurred on March 30 at a residence on October Place in Rolla, a small city located roughly 100 miles southwest of St. Louis.
An officer was dispatched to the residence just before 6 p.m. in response to a report of an assault, according to a statement of probable cause obtained by Law&Crime.
The reporting party was an employee at the residence who called police after a co-worker had been attacked by one of the residents, according to the charging document.
The probable cause statement says dispatch "relayed there was an injury to a fresh tattoo and the parties were separated."
Both parties had been separated by the time police arrived, the officer noted, before proceeding to inspect the victim.
"I observed a large laceration to her throat about 3 inches tall and stretching the entire length of her throat," the charging document continues. "There was a copious amount of blood, down the front of [the victim's] chest that appeared to be drying. [The victim] was conscious and alert and advised she was not moving her neck."
As the interview with the woman went on, the victim described making dinner for the defendant when signals got violently mixed.
"[The victim] stated she had cooked dinner for Wolfe and the other resident," the probable cause statement goes on. "[The victim] advised Wolfe was upset and told her the macaroni and cheese she made belonged to him."
Efforts to reason with the defendant failed, the victim told police.
"[The victim] advised she tried explaining to Wolfe that she made the dinner for him and the other resident when Wolfe grabbed her," the charging document continues. [The victim] advised Wolfe pinned her against the wall and grabbed her throat. Wolfe then pulled the skin on [her] throat where she had just received a tattoo approximately 5 days prior. Wolfe ripped the skin from [her] neck, leaving the large laceration."
The defendant also left scratch marks on the woman's back and damaged her cellphone during the attack, police said.
The woman said she eventually got away from her assailant, who then sat back down at the kitchen table "and began playing on his tablet," according to the probable cause statement.
Wolfe is currently detained in the Phelps County Jail on $250,000 bond, according to an arrest warrant obtained by Law&Crime. He is next slated to appear in court on April 6, records show.
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