Nov 23, 2017 3 min read

A woman is facing an attempted homicide charge after Cumberland Township police said she stabbed a man in the head Tuesday night in Nemacolin.

Police accused Alyssa Theresa Ortiz, 24, of 36 Third St., Crucible, of stabbing the man in the back of the head during a fight.

Officers were dispatched to 256 Grant St. about 6 p.m. for a report that multiple people were fighting and one person had a knife trying to stab someone, according to court documents.

By the time police arrived, everyone had left, but township Officer Eric Orr said he saw a man, later identified as Ricky Finn, bleeding from the head. Witnesses told Orr a woman down the street stabbed Finn. Ortiz “appeared under the influence of some type of substance,” according to the criminal complaint.

During her arraignment Wednesday morning, Ortiz told District Judge Glenn Bates she was currently taking Suboxone.

Police said the fight included Finn, Ortiz, Randy Tiberi Jr. and Janet Higginbotham. Witnesses told police Finn and Higginbotham were outside their home and saw Ortiz looking in vehicles with a flashlight. Finn told Ortiz to “leave and go back down the street where she had come from,” the criminal complaint said.

Ortiz then punched Finn in the face, police said. Higginbotham attempted to defend Finn and started to fight with Ortiz, police said, while Tiberi came up the street and began to fight with Finn.

During the fight, Ortiz reportedly went to Tiberi’s vehicle where she got a knife from the center console. She then stabbed Finn in the back of the head, police said.

“Initially no one claimed to know where the knife had gone when officers arrived on scene,” police wrote in the complaint. A witness later told police Ortiz had thrown the knife on a neighbor’s front porch.

Finn was taken in a personal vehicle to Washington Health System-Greene, where a hospital spokesman said he was treated and released.

In addition to the attempted criminal homicide charge, Ortiz faces two counts each of aggravated assault and riot charges, along with charges of reckless endangerment, simple assault, disorderly conduct and harassment.

Wrapped in a blanket during her video arraignment, Ortiz began to sob as Bates read her bond for the “very serious crime” she allegedly had committed. She is being held at Greene County jail on a $100,000 cash bond. Her preliminary hearing before Bates is scheduled for 2 p.m. Dec. 4.