Woman told Las Vegas police boyfriend’s stabbing was an accident

A Las Vegas woman arrested over the weekend admitted to stabbing her boyfriend in the chest, but told police it was an accident.

Rhodecia Jones, 24, dialed 911 around 9:30 p.m. Sunday and said her boyfriend, Mario Scanga, had been stabbed. According to Jones’ arrest report, she told officers at the scene that she was smoking outside their apartment on the 5000 block of Eldora Avenue, near West Sahara Avenue and South Decatur Boulevard, when Scanga walked up with a knife sticking out of his chest.

Police had to kick down the locked door to the apartment to get to Scanga, the report states. Jones later told detectives she locked the door because she didn’t want her children to see him. Officers found Scanga on the kitchen floor, “unresponsive and pale,” with a rag covering a chest wound.

Scanga was hospitalized in critical condition, and a doctor who treated him told police that the stabbing appeared intentional because of the amount of force required to cause the deep wound, according to the report.

Detectives found a bloody kitchen knife on the counter that matched other knives in the kitchen, and a neighbor told police they heard shouting from the apartment earlier that night, the report states. A manager at the complex said Jones and Scanga fought often, and Jones would often leave the apartment through a back window afterward.

Jones was taken into custody, and during an interview with police said that she accidentally stabbed Scanga in the chest while they were arguing.

According to the report, the couple began fighting after drinking with friends. After the friends left the apartment Jones said she went to the kitchen and started cooking but Scanga followed her.

She told police she had the knife in her hand when Scanga grabbed her by the arms and began shaking her, and that’s when she accidentally stabbed him in the chest. Jones said she lied at the scene because she was “scared and did not know what to do.”

Jones was arrested on one count each of attempted murder with a deadly weapon and domestic battery resulting in substantial body harm. She remains in custody at the Clark County Detention Center, where she was booked under the name “Rodesha Jones.” A preliminary hearing was scheduled for June 14.

Contact Max Michor at mmichor@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @MaxMichor on Twitter.