A woman accused of attempted murder resulting in the permanent disfigurement of a family member in 2020 was incarcerated Wednesday in the Montgomery County Jail following transport from an Illinois correctional facility.
Blessing Jay Yoder, 20, was taken into local custody on a warrant that stems from an incident on July 5, 2020 in which Yoder is accused of repeatedly stabbing and severely burning sister Laura Thorpe at their shared Shady Knoll apartment, according to court documents and a probable cause affidavit filed in Montgomery Circuit Court on July 6, 2020.
Yoder is charged with attempted murder, a level 1 felony, and aggravated battery causing serious permanent disfigurement, a level 3 felony. She is also charged with battery by means of a deadly weapon and battery resulting in serious bodily injury, each level 5 felonies. If convicted on all charges, Yoder could face up to 68 years in an Indiana correctional facility.
Court documents show investigators named Yoder as the prime suspect on July 6, 2020 after crime technicians recovered a handwritten “to do” list at the shared Shady Knoll dwelling in the days following the incident. At the top of the list, the words “kill Laura” were visible. Also on the list were entries to “clean apartment pack up” and “move to Florida.”
According to the affidavit, police arrived at 210 Shady Circle, Apartment G, the evening of July 5, 2020 following reports of a woman screaming that she had been stabbed. When Crawfordsville Police Officer Alfredo Villalpando entered the apartment, he found Thorpe with “significant bleeding” from multiple stab wounds to the face, neck, shoulders and upper body. Thorpe also sustained severe burns on her left shoulder and chest from a “boiling liquid.” A burner on the stove was reportedly still engaged when Villalpando arrived.
A kitchen knife with stains “consistent to blood” was recovered from the home, and subsequent interviews with neighbors resulted in a photograph of Yoder from a doorbell camera, the affidavit shows.
Thorpe was transported to Franciscan Health Hospital in Lafayette where officers observed “a large laceration on the right side of her face near her eye,” and that “several blisters were seeping onto her face.” She also had a significant cut to her left shoulder and small laceration in her armpit area, according to court documents.
“It appeared that a knife had entered through the shoulder and punctured through to her underarm,” the affidavit reads.
By the morning of July 6, 2020, Thorpe had been transported to Eskenazi Health in Indianapolis where her condition was listed as stable but critical.
Yoder has had an active warrant since July 6, 2020 in Tippecanoe County where she was charged with auto theft, a level 6 felony.
Three days later, Yoder was arrested at a hotel in the southwestern suburb of Countryside, Illinois, near Chicago. She was arrested without incident and held for a bond hearing on a charge of possession of a stolen vehicle, according to police.
Yoder is currently housed at the Montgomery County Jail with a $20,000 cash-only bond. An initial hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. today in Montgomery Circuit Court.
