{"id":1171,"date":"2025-12-09T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=1171"},"modified":"2025-12-07T17:44:45","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T23:44:45","slug":"pennington-county-orders-eval-in-attempted-murder-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/pennington-county-orders-eval-in-attempted-murder-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennington County Orders Eval In Attempted Murder Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pennington County\u00a0<\/strong>(trfnews.i234.me)\u00a0<\/a>\u2013 A Thief River Falls woman accused of trying to kill a child will undergo a court-ordered mental health evaluation.<\/p>\n

Charges And Allegations<\/h2>\n

According to a criminal complaint, Edwina Marie Stoutenburgh<\/strong>, 34, faces two felony counts.
\nShe is charged with attempted second-degree murder without intent.
\nShe is also charged with second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon.
\nThe case remains open in Pennington County District Court.<\/p>\n

The complaint says Stoutenburgh is accused of going to a sleeping boy\u2019s bedroom.
\nInvestigators say she took a knife from the kitchen.
\nShe allegedly tried to cut the boy\u2019s throat as he slept.
\nThe knife did not fully cut his neck, but marks were seen.
\nThe complaint does not state the child\u2019s age.<\/p>\n

Mental Health Evaluation Ordered<\/h2>\n

Court records say the defense asked for a mental illness and cognitive impairment evaluation.
\nAt a hearing on November 7, the judge approved that request.
\nThe prosecutor did not object to the exam.<\/p>\n

Defense attorneys also asked that the evaluation be done in person.
\nThey said remote exams can raise accuracy concerns.
\nThe court will contact approved evaluators to see who can meet in person.
\nMore information on these exams is available from the\u00a0Minnesota Judicial Branch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\"MugshotEdwina Marie Stoutenburgh is charged with attempted second-degree murder and second-degree assault in Pennington County.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Statements In The Complaint<\/h2>\n

The charges stem from a July 20 report to the Pennington County Sheriff\u2019s Office.
\nDeputies first found several juveniles inside a vehicle near a rural home.
\nThey checked the children and believed they were safe.
\nThey then went to the residence itself.<\/p>\n

According to the complaint, deputies found Stoutenburgh outside the home.
\nShe was wearing very little clothing and was quickly detained.
\nThe complaint says she made several strange comments.
\nShe reportedly said \u201cthey\u201d made her do various things.
\nLater, she said \u201cthey\u201d referred to demons or voices she believed were present.<\/p>\n

Stoutenburgh was taken to Sanford Medical Center for evaluation.
\nAt the hospital, she told staff she woke up feeling \u201cdemons\u201d taking control of her body.
\nShe said these voices told her to do disturbing acts with an already dead duck.
\nShe also said the voices told her to eat things that were not food.<\/p>\n

The complaint says Stoutenburgh reported that the voices then focused on the children.
\nShe allegedly said \u201cthey\u201d told her to grab a kitchen knife.
\nShe went to the boy\u2019s upstairs bedroom and rolled him over.
\nShe said she tried to cut his throat with the same knife.
\nShe told investigators the knife was too dull and only left marks.<\/p>\n

According to the complaint, the voices then told her to sharpen the knife.
\nShe said the voices told her to hurt all of the children, then her husband, and then herself.
\nShe sharpened the knife, but stopped in the stairwell.
\nThe children became upset, and she eventually gave them the vehicle keys to leave.<\/p>\n

Deputies later searched the home with consent from her husband.
\nThey found a severed duck head on a cutting board next to a bloodied spoon.
\nA kitchen knife with what appeared to be blood was in the sink.
\nThe child had marks on his neck but survived.
\nMore information on Minnesota attempted murder laws is available on the\u00a0Minnesota statute site<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Next Steps In Pennington County Court<\/h2>\n

The mental health evaluation will look at Stoutenburgh\u2019s condition and thinking.
\nResults can affect how the case moves forward.
\nThey may address her mental state at the time of the incident.
\nThey may also address whether she can fully understand the court process.<\/p>\n

Second-degree assault and attempted second-degree murder are serious felonies.
\nPossible penalties are listed in\u00a0Minnesota Statute 609.19\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0Minnesota Statute 609.222<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Future hearings and filings will appear on the\u00a0Minnesota trial court public access site<\/a>.
\nPeople who struggle with voices, paranoia, or other mental health symptoms
\ncan find help and support through groups like\u00a0NAMI<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At this stage, Edwina Marie Stoutenburgh is presumed innocent.
\nShe remains innocent unless and until she is found guilty in court.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m Chris Harper reporting for\u00a0TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pennington County\u00a0(trfnews.i234.me)\u00a0\u2013 A Thief River Falls woman accused of trying to kill a child will undergo a court-ordered mental health evaluation. Charges And Allegations According to a criminal complaint, Edwina Marie Stoutenburgh, 34, faces two felony counts. She is charged with attempted second-degree murder without intent. She is also charged with second-degree assault with a… Continue reading Pennington County Orders Eval In Attempted Murder Case<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[2119,871,768,772,1741,2197,1742,1744,1746,1743,1505,2196,791,1739,1293,1745,1740,786],"class_list":["post-1171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-attempted","tag-case","tag-county","tag-crime","tag-edwina-marie-stoutenburgh","tag-eval","tag-mental-health-evaluation-ordered","tag-minnesota-attempted-murder-charge","tag-minnesota-criminal-case","tag-minnesota-second-degree-assault","tag-murder","tag-orders","tag-pennington","tag-pennington-county-attempted-murder","tag-pennington-county-district-court","tag-sanford-medical-center-thief-river-falls","tag-thief-river-falls-woman-charged","tag-trf-news","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1171"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1220,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171\/revisions\/1220"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}