A North Dakota woman who took a machete to her boyfriend’s head while he slept has been arrested—and her mugshot, which has since been released to the public, shows her smiling.
The woman, a 23-year-old named Lena Deoliveira, has requested the services of an attorney.
She has been charged with “attempted [slaying]” and is being held on bail of $500,000.
Highlights
- Twenty-three-year-old Lena Deoliveira allegedly struck her boyfriend in the head with a machete while he slept.
- A witness inside the garage home said the blow sounded like “an axe biting into wood.”
- Deoliveira fled the scene but was arrested two miles away without incident.
The eyewitness said that the machete hitting her boyfriend’s head sounded like an axe slamming into wood
Image credits: Michael Förtsch/Unsplash
According to InForum, the outlet that saw the charge sheet, the case against Deoliveira is heavily based on an eyewitness account.
The eyewitness was a man who shared the detached garage converted into a living space with the boyfriend, Jonathan Granados.
He claimed he was awoken by Granados’s screams, and when he looked, he saw Deoliveira behind her paramour-turned-victim—hatchet in hand.
Image credits: Cass County Jail
The witness claimed that he had heard the Native American weapon land, and when it struck home, it sounded like an axe biting into wood.
In the victim’s account, he described his main injury as a “slice” in his head
“He looked and saw Lena swing down with the hatchet; he couldn’t see the point of the strike due to obstructions,” court documents corroborated.
Image credits: Caleb Kastein/Unsplash
“But heard it sound like splitting wood, initially thinking she hit the headrest or headboard.”
“He believes there were two strikes because when he approached (Granados), it looked like one or two of Johnny’s fingers were missing or ‘kind of hanging,’” the filing cited the witness.
“He saw blood and a mark through Johnny’s skull.”
According to Granados’ account, the assault came without warning and left two of his fingers severely gashed while his head had a “large slice in it.”
The woman was described as homeless, sleeping on floors and couches
Image credits: Getty/Unsplash
The eyewitness claimed that he had thought Deoliveira was “out of it,” but then came to when she heard what has been described as the “click” of a couch’s footrest and saw the blood from her attack.
The police document also referenced blood, saying that officers had followed a trail of it up to the garage, which served as the three people’s home.
According to the unnamed man, the 23-year-old fled the building after her attack.
Image credits: engin akyurt/Unsplash
Up until that point, Deoliveira is said to have been homeless, crashing on the floors and couches of homes around the neighborhood.
The woman is in custody with bail set at $500,000
The ensuing investigation led to Deoliveira’s arrest “without incident” on September 7, two miles from Fargo, where she committed her crime.
She has been charged with attempted [slaying], with her bail set at $500,000, and her next court hearing will be on October 16.
Image credits: Tony Litvyak/Unsplash
While authorities have yet to divulge any statements made by the woman, they have revealed that she has requested a lawyer.
The 23-year-old’s smiling mugshot has people speculating about her health
Deoliveira’s mugshot is making its rounds on the internet, and it depicts her grinning broadly.
The sight has netizens speculating about her mental state, one of whom said: “The elevator clearly doesn’t go all the way to the top…”
Image credits: Cass County Jail
“Wow! Is there something in the water that’s making everybody […] crazy?” asked another.
One commenter entertained the idea that there may have been another explanation.
“The smile in the mugshot… I wanna know what she was getting even for,” they wrote.
Gay and transgender men are more likely to be misused
The incident comes almost exactly a year after the Domestic Violence Services Network published a write-up highlighting male victims.
Image credits: formulanone/Wikimedia
It cited statistics from George Mason University (1 in every 3) and the CDC, which states 1 in every 10 men fall prey to harassment, attacks (physical or otherwise), and misuse.
A 2015 Domestic Shelters analysis specified that “26% of gay men and 37% of bis**ual men, or 2 in 5 gay or bis**ual men overall, experience intimate partner violence in their lifetime.”
Additionally, a 2020 study published by the American Public Health Association “found that transgender individuals in general are 1.7 times more likely to experience intimate partner violence than cisgender individuals.”
Be that as it may, 41 percent of all American women fell afoul of the behavior at least once in their lifetime
Image credits: SavvyUnbowed
But overall, as observed by the Domestic Violence Services Network: “To this day, the majority of [domestic violence] victims are women and perpetrators men.”
Specifically (per CDC), 41 percent of all American women were at one point or another subjected to one of the various behaviors constituting domestic abuse.
The internet is wondering about the woman’s motive
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