Woman admits to stabbing girlfriend 46 times, pleads guilty


2 photos
Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

OGDEN — A Holladay woman unexpectedly admitted to stabbing her girlfriend 46 times in a violent murder last October and pleaded guilty Thursday.

One day before her 23rd birthday, Victoria Ashley Mendoza entered a guilty plea in 2nd District Court during what was originally scheduled as a review hearing.

Mendoza was driving with girlfriend Tawnee Baird on I-15 on Oct. 18, 2014, when the two began to fight and, in her own words, she "lost it," according to court documents that charge her with first-degree felony murder.

Mendoza grabbed a knife from her pocket and stabbed Baird 46 times in the face, neck and chest, prosecutors said. She reportedly pulled into a parking lot in Ogden and called her sister and two friends to tell them what she had done to Baird.

None of Baird's stab wounds appeared to be deadly on their own, meaning Baird probably died from loss of blood and shock, said Todd Grey, chief state medical examiner, during a preliminary hearing in February.

Mendoza, who also attended a competency review hearing in her case in August, will be sentenced Nov. 10 in 2nd District Court before Judge Joseph Bean. A jury trial scheduled for late November and early December has been canceled.

Casey Baird, Tawnee's father, has said he didn't know there were problems in the relationship between Mendoza and his daughter that would amount to violence.

Baird said shortly after the murder that he wanted Mendoza to serve a lengthy prison sentence "and have a lot of time to think about this." He advised other parents who may see warning signs about violence in their children's romantic relationships to "really dig into it."

Photos

Related stories

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

Utah
Ben Lockhart

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast