Woman hid for 5 days after being stabbed 17 times in Las Vegas

A woman was found hiding in fear in a homeless camp earlier this month, her condition deteriorating after her boyfriend allegedly stabbed her at least 17 times, according to Las Vegas police arrest documents.

According to Richard Bartlett’s arrest report, the unidentified woman told investigators she was so afraid “of what Bartlett would do to her” that she refused to call police or go to a hospital for treatment. Instead, she hid for five days before she was found Dec. 10, vomiting blood and trying to tend to her wounds on her own inside an abandoned tent near McLaurine and Glen avenues, according to the Metropolitan Police Department report.

Since early September when she was beaten and stabbed in the head with a pocketknife, the woman had been living in fear after she said Bartlett had threatened to kill her after he got out of jail. That stab wound caused a large gash on her head that had to be stapled shut, police said.

The 28-year-old suspect was arrested Sept. 6 in connection with that attack, and was charged with attempted murder and domestic battery.

But despite Bartlett’s alleged threats, court records show that on Sept. 24 all felony charges against him were dismissed and his only bail condition — to stay away from the victim — was lifted.

The reasons for the dismissal of the September case remained unclear Tuesday. A phone request for comment from the Clark County district attorney’s office regarding the dismissal was not returned Tuesday.

Bartlett landed behind bars at the Clark County Detention Center again the same day his girlfriend was found — this time on charges of attempted murder, battery with a deadly weapon, first-degree kidnapping and coercion with threat of force.

About a week before the woman was found, she said during an interview with detectives this month, she ran into Bartlett at a gas station near Sahara Avenue and Boulder Highway. Bartlett took the woman back to his parents’ house, and for the next two days would not let her leave, according to the woman’s statements in the report.

During that period, she told police, he beat her “over and over” with his fists, according to the report. The woman told investigators that Bartlett grew increasingly violent on Dec. 5, kicking her and stomping on her head, neck and torso before allegedly stabbing her “all over her body” with a pocketknife, the report states.

She was able to escape from the apartment later that day when Bartlett’s parents came home.

Doctors treated the woman at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center for fractures to three spots in her vertebrae, stab wounds and a collapsed lung caused by a stab wound to her back, the report states. A Metropolitan Police Department spokesman said she remained hospitalized Tuesday, although her condition was not known. Detectives in the report characterized her injuries as life-threatening.

While interviewing the woman at the hospital, patrol officers were sent to Bartlett’s home, where he was immediately taken into custody. During a warranted search of the home, the report states, crime scene investigators found blood spatter on the walls of the kitchen and evidence of blood smeared on the walls near a bathroom.

Bartlett denied stabbing his girlfriend during a subsequent interview “but admitted to getting into a physical altercation” with the woman, according to the report.

He remained held without bail Tuesday at the detention center, and his preliminary hearing is set for Dec. 31, according to jail records.

Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.