Sword narrowly missed man’s heart in Marysville stabbing

Published 1:30 am Sunday, February 17, 2019

MARYSVILLE — If the sword had sliced into Aaron Lemmon’s back just millimeters to the right, it would’ve cut open his heart. Instead he lost about half of his left lung.

Lemmon had come home, eaten dinner and watched cartoons with his toddler son Jan. 25, according to new charges against his fiancée. She spent the evening in a bedroom at their home on Grove Street. Lemmon reportedly put the kids to bed and told his partner he was going to sleep, too.

First, he went to grab some milk in the kitchen. As he reached for a cup, she stabbed him in the back with a 25-inch sword, according to his report to police. Lemmon followed her to the bedroom, begging her to call 911. She sat on the bed with the weapon, he later told police. The last thing he recalled was looking for his shoes, so he could go to the hospital. He passed out. Police believe the fiancée, 31, waited about an hour to call 911.

“My boyfriend was trying to kill me and I stabbed him,” she told the dispatcher, according to court papers.

Marysville police officers found Lemmon bloodied, pale and unconscious, face down, halfway in the closet. The wound to his back was below the armpit.

The fiancée told police they’d gotten into a fight. He made her feel bad, she reported, so she’d gone to the kitchen and came back to find him destroying her jewelry. She yelled at him and he punched her, according to her report. Police asked her how many times she got punched. She didn’t know. She stated she fell backward and hit her head on a dresser. She happened to see the sword nearby, grabbed it and stabbed Lemmon’s back, she told officers. She reported he went to the kitchen, stood there for a moment and walked back to the bedroom where he collapsed.

Police doubted her story.

Detectives believed the man was defenseless when he was attacked. The sword’s sheath was in the bedroom. The weapon was leaning against a high chair in the kitchen.

The fiancée had scratches on her face. As a detective began to swab them for DNA, she admitted those injuries were self-inflicted, according to police.

Lemmon underwent emergency surgery. He remained in the hospital for days and he’s still recovering. He’s unable to hold up his left arm, possibly due to nerve damage, his mother, Janie McCombs, said.

The fiancée was booked into jail for investigation of domestic violence assault in the first degree.

From jail, the fiancée tried to call Lemmon Jan. 26, charging papers say. A no-contact order was entered at 1 p.m. Jan. 28. She tried to call again that day at 4:15 p.m. Her calls went unanswered.

Two children, an infant and a 2 year old, were taken into the custody of Child Protective Services. Lemmon has been able to visit them twice a week, his mother said. His family went public with his identity and his account of that night, setting up an online fundraiser to support him.

Court papers in past civil cases show the woman suffered a brain injury over a decade ago in a car crash. She’d been diagnosed with mental health disorders, and struggled with addictions to heroin and methadone. Two years ago, during a child custody feud, Lemmon wrote that whenever she stopped taking her medications it would alter her mood “in ways that are horrible making her angry all of the time.”

Her bail was set at $500,000 in late January.

The defense tried to lower that number when she was arraigned on Valentine’s Day. The motion was denied.

Caleb Hutton: 425-339-3454; chutton@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snocaleb.