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ST. GEORGE — A 72-year-old man was arrested after police say he stabbed his caretaker early Saturday, causing significant injuries.
Keith Dee Johnson was booked into the Purgatory Correctional Facility for investigation of attempted murder and interfering with a peace officer.
About 2 a.m., St. George police responded to a report of a commotion at an apartment unit located at 1287 W. Shadow Point Drive after receiving a 911 call from someone who saw a woman "running and screaming" and knocking on doors in the neighborhood. The officer arrived to find the woman by an apartment porch with "significant blood loss" on the ground, according to a police booking affidavit.
The woman told police she was an employee of Chrysalis — a caretaking company that treats people with intellectual disabilities — and that she was "attacked unprovoked" by her client, Johnson, the affidavit states.
She told police she was stabbed multiple times before falling to the floor. After being stabbed a few more times, she was able to grab the knife from Johnson and run away, knocking on doors in the neighborhood to seek help, according to the arrest report. The woman was transported to St. George Regional Hospital with stab wounds to her chest, back, head, hand and ankle, including a wound that "nicked an artery near her heart."
Her wounds appeared to be "defensive in nature," police said.
Additional officers surrounded the area and came across blood spatter and stains along a nearby street before a manager of the company directed police to an apartment unit on Las Hurdes Drive. Police found the doorway open and blood by the unit's front door before they found a man, identified as Johnson, on the second level of the unit, the affidavit says.
"Once (Johnson) was grabbed by multiple officers to be placed in handcuffs, (he) began pulling away from arresting officers. (He) pulled away by tensing his arms and attempting to pull away from the officer's grip," police wrote in the affidavit. "While being taken into custody, (Johnson) made an excited utterance statement of, 'She attacked me' without officers questioning him."
Police reported finding blood on Johnson's shirt, pants, jacket and shoes, as well as on his face.
The report added that the caretaker was undergoing emergency surgery for her wounds. St. George police officer Tiffany Mitchell said she did not know what condition the woman was in other than that she was recovering from surgery Saturday.
Mitchell declined to provide any other updates on the case, which remains under investigation.
