Blood Trail Led To Richfield Man Who Stabbed Ex-Girlfriend: Cops

HENNEPIN COUNTY, MN — A Richfield man was charged with first-degree assault for allegedly nearly killing his former girlfriend with a knife wound to her neck, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Friday.

Thomas Edward Boyd, 29, was also charged with second-degree assault in the Monday morning attack. Boyd was hospitalized because he appeared to be overdosing when police arrived, authorities said. They administered Narcan to counteract the suspected opioid in his system.

According to the criminal complaint filed Tuesday, Richfield police were sent to a home in the 7300 Block of Harriet Avenue about 5:40 a.m. Monday.

Officers found a woman was sitting on the kitchen floor, covered in blood and holding a towel against her neck. The laceration in her neck was six inches long, nearly four inches deep and next to her carotid artery.

Investigators followed a trail of blood upstairs to Boyd’s bedroom where they discovered a pool of blood on the floor and a clump of hair on a pillow on Boyd’s bed, the complaint stated.

Boyd’s mother told police she awoke at about 5:30 a.m. to the sound of her son yelling at his ex-girlfriend. A short time later, the woman came down to the kitchen and asked Boyd’s mother for help because she had been stabbed.

During the 911 call, the young woman could be heard crying in the background and saying “What is wrong with you? Why would you do this to me?” while Boyd can be heard yelling at her, according to the complaint.

Police recovered a butcher knife, wrapped in a red jacket, from the kitchen counter.

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