Woman who stabbed her husband misses court date; warrant for arrest issued

Chris Vetter, The Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire, Wis.
·2 min read

Jul. 7—CHIPPEWA FALLS — A town of Wheaton woman accused of stabbing her husband at their residence in August failed to show up for a court hearing last week, so a warrant has now been issued for her arrest.

Karen S. Christenson, 67, 3666 25th St., is charged in Chippewa County Court with first-degree recklessly endangering safety/domestic abuse and substantial battery/domestic abuse; Chippewa County District Attorney Wade Newell opted not to seek the more serious charge of attempted homicide.

Christenson was incarcerated in the Chippewa County Jail on a $1,000 cash bond after her arrest in August, until Judge James Isaacson converted it to a signature bond May 12. Christenson was allowed to go to her home just one time to gather items; court records show she has been living at a Motel 6 in Eau Claire since her release.

Christenson skipped her arraignment hearing on June 23, and again when it was re-set for June 30. Isaacson then issued the warrant, which went into effect July 2.

According to the criminal complaint, the sheriff's office responded to a call at 7:33 p.m. Aug. 24 about a stabbing incident in the town of Wheaton home.

"Upon arrival, deputies approached a male outside of the residence," a sheriff's office press release states. "The male reported he was stabbed in the chest by his wife, Karen Christenson, during an argument in the victim's van on the property." The victim was stabbed once in the right pectoral area with a "fruit knife," with the cut one centimeter wide and four centimeters deep. It was considered a non-life-threatening injury; he was treated and released from a nearby hospital.

The man said Christenson "had been exhibiting paranoid behaviors over the years, never leaving the premises and rarely going outside the residence," the complaint states.

However, Karen Christenson barricaded herself in her residence and refused to comply with deputies' orders to exit the home. She showed a knife through the window that she claimed she used to stab her husband. Officers eventually obtained a search warrant to enter the home, where they were able to apprehend her.

Newell previously said the charges are based on the totality of the incident, and the fact she made a claim of self-defense, which is among the reasons she wasn't charged with attempted homicide.

As a condition of her release Christenson is required to take all medications prescribed to her. She also cannot possess weapons, illegal drugs, or alcohol.

Our goal is to create a safe and engaging place for users to connect over interests and passions. In order to improve our community experience, we are temporarily suspending article commenting

Recommended Stories

  • China regulator fined internet platforms including Didi for illegal merger deals

    China's market regulator said on Wednesday it has fined a number of internet companies including Didi Chuxing, Tencent and Alibaba for failing to report earlier merger and acquisition deals for approval, according to a statement on the website of the State Administration of Market Regulation (SAMR). Subsidiaries of Didi are involved with 8 of the 22 deals. In one of the cases, Didi established a joint venture company with China FAW Group Corporation in 2018, without reporting the deal for antitrust reviews before the new company's registration.

  • Two missing sisters. One bizarre note. For 20 years, a family has asked: Where are our girls?

    In 2001, Tionda and Diamond Bradley left a note and disappeared from their Chicago home. For two decades, their family has fought for answers.

  • Belgian-Congolese chef opens Senegal's first artisan chocolate shop

    Forced by the COVID-19 pandemic to abandon plans to open a restaurant, Danuta Nganko, a Belgian-Congolese chef in Senegal's capital Dakar, settled instead on an even tastier endeavour: to become the country's first gourmet chocolatier. "When COVID started, all my activities stopped," she said. Since then, Nganko has realised a new dream with the opening of Venko - Senegal's first and only artisanal chocolate company.

  • Large crowds bring July 4 chaos to Loop; 2 officers injured

    Chicago police said they responded to several large groups gathering throughout downtown Sunday night, with at least two police officers injured.

  • Three Asian Students Brutally Attacked by ‘Gang’ of Teens in Australia

    Police in Queensland, Australia are investigating a vicious attack by a group of teens against a trio of Asian students late last month. The incident, which was caught on video, reportedly occurred outside a shopping center in Inala, a suburb in the city of Brisbane, on June 27. One of the attackers is believed to have filmed the scene.

  • New Jersey man arrested after calling Black neighbor the n-word, ‘monkey’

    In his tirade, Edward Cagney Mathews gave his address and challenged, “Come see me.” Police in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey arrested a man who went on a six-minute racist tirade Friday against his neighbors, an interaction caught on camera that led to a community showdown on Monday.

  • Professional golfer killed after 'happening upon a crime,' police say

    A professional golfer who was shot and killed at a Georgia course over the weekend was not the intended target of his assailant, according to police.

  • Self-Proclaimed 'Incel' Accused of Killing 6-Year-Old Neighbor And Hiding Her Body

    The man who killed a six-year-old girl and hid her body last year told friends that he was an ‘incel’ and ‘asexual,’ according to local police. Friends of Coty Scott Taylor, 30, said that the South Carolina man was “a loner who constantly had a negative outlook on life,” according to investigative findings released by the Cayce Department of Public Safety, and reported by The State. On Feb. 10, 2020, Taylor abducted Faye Marie Swetlik, 6, from her front yard in Cayce, South Carolina, according t

  • Parris Island graduate who saved woman from attack in Savannah motel receives medal

    The Marine is now stationed in Hawaii.

  • American Banker Jailed in Hong Kong for Trying to Be a Good Samaritan

    Tyrone Siu via ReutersWhen Samuel Bickett, a former Bank of America compliance director, saw a man with a retractable baton confronting a teenager in a subway station in Hong Kong in 2019, he assumed he had stumbled on an assault. He immediately tried to help the kid by trying to grab the baton, he says. What he didn’t know was that the man was Senior Constable Yu Shu-sang, an undercover officer, and the younger man had just skipped his fare at the nearby subway station. The man in blue sweater,

  • Woman Accused Of Plowing Through Ex Boyfriend’s Funeral Now Charged With Vandalizing Jesus Statue

    A Minnesota woman who allegedly plowed through a cemetery during her ex-boyfriend’s funeral services has now been accused of a prior act of chaos. Blair Whitten, 28, made headlines in May after she allegedly tried to run people over at a Fargo, North Dakota cemetery on Saturday as they were putting Colin MacDonald, 24, to rest. “Multiple complainants reported Whitten was driving her vehicle, inside the cemetery, in a manner with extreme indifference for human life which created substantial risk

  • Democratic donor Ed Buck injected drugs into passed out sex partners, prosecutors say

    Democratic megadonor Ed Buck, who is about to stand trial in the drugging deaths of two men, lured a stream of young participants to his West Hollywood apartment where they were injected with methamphetamine and played sexual fetish games, federal prosecutors said.

  • Rittenhouse attorney wants to show victim was sex offender

    Kyle Rittenhouse's attorney wants a judge to allow him to argue that one of the men his client fatally shot during a Wisconsin protest was a sex offender, saying it supports a defense theory that he attacked Rittenhouse and intended to take his gun because he couldn't legally possess one. Mark Richards maintained in court filings Thursday that Joseph Rosenbaum was convicted of having sex with a minor in Arizona in 2002 and was prohibited from possessing firearms. Rosenbaum started the altercation with Rittenhouse in hopes of making off with his assault-style rifle, which only bolsters Rittenhouse’s self-defense argument, Richards wrote.

  • 18-year-old launches firework mortar at hovering police helicopter, Tennessee cops say

    The helicopter was flying over a parking lot as part of a “street racing initiative,” police say.

  • Mom leaves 9-month-old at bar with strangers she met hours earlier, Alabama cops say

    Witnesses said the woman was drunk when she came back for the child.

  • Search Is Underway for 23-Year-Old Hiker Who Has Been Missing for 5 Days in Montana Forest

    Tatum Morell last spoke to her mom around 8 p.m. on Thursday night, the same day she set out on a hike

  • Lawsuit: Man who sparked treasure hunt retrieved own loot

    A French treasure hunter has sued the estate of a Santa Fe, New Mexico, antiquities dealer who sparked a yearslong search across the American West by hiding a chest filled with gold, coins and other valuables. Bruno Raphoz is seeking $10 million in a complaint filed last week in U.S. District Court in New Mexico. The lawsuit comes a year after another man found the treasure in Wyoming, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.

  • Iowa man arrested after Chicago hotel employee voices suspicion over weapons in room

    A 32-year-old Iowa man was charged with two felony counts of unlawful use of a weapon after a hotel employee in Chicago reported Sunday that a guest was in possession of a rifle with a high-powered scope as well as a handgun and ammunition, according to local media reports. The items seized from a room at the W Chicago-Lakeshore overlooking Ohio Street Beach; the lakefront pedestrian, bike and running paths; and Navy Pier, one of the most popular tourist destinations in all of Illinois, included

  • 61 arrested after Chicago crowd hurls fireworks at officers and dances on police cars

    Dozens of arrests were made in downtown Chicago on the Fourth of July after a crowd of young adults and juveniles launched fireworks at officers and danced on police cruisers.

  • Former Cop Sentenced To Prison Time For Forcing Teens To Strip To Avoid Arrest

    A former Florida cop is gearing up to serve a decade in prison for forcing a pair of teens to strip naked and run in order to evade arrest after a sentencing hearing last week. Former Miccosukee Police Officer Michael Martinez appeared in court on Thursday, where he was told he will soon begin to serve a 10-year sentence, WSVN in Miami reports. Martinez was convicted of extortion and unlawful compensation in 2019 for forcing two 18-year-olds, Kyle Shoulta and Remy Riley, to strip and then run na