“Let’s fight to the death.” Woman allegedly stabs man and pushes him off second-story loft

VICTOR – New details have been released about a 48-year-old woman who was arrested after she apparently tried to kill a man by stabbing him repeatedly and pushing him off a second-story loft.

Luna Nicoya Phaedra Serrano was charged with felony attempted first-degree murder, felony burglary, and two counts of felony aggravated battery for at least two instances of violence.

Teton County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 call on Kestrel Hill Road in Victor at about 11 p.m. Monday after a report of two people fighting.

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Dispatch reportedly told the deputies the reporting party had been sleeping, had to “run outside” and was hiding under a truck. The witness also “continued to ask for help and was yelling ‘stop’,” according to a probable cause affidavit.

The deputy recognized the witness’s phone number because he had dealt with “several prior calls regarding (the man) and his ex-girlfriend (Serrano).”

The deputy writes in the police report that although he recognized the number to belong to a man, the witness sounded like a female.

When deputies arrived at the house, they spoke with the witness who was “crying and appeared to be panicking.” She pointed to the cabin, telling deputies, “They’re over there.”

A deputy got closer to the cabin, where he reportedly saw a man, the victim, “in nothing but his underwear, holding who appeared to be (Serrano) down, kneeling on her back, with his hands pressed on her head/neck.”

Serrano was reportedly fully dressed in two jackets with, “one jacket being worn backwards” unzipped facing toward her back, and a headlamp on her forehead, according to police reports.

The deputy yelled at the man to get off Serrano, and he was detained.

Serrano was reportedly still lying “on her face with her hands over her head.”

Deputies saw a cut on the man’s neck and on his chest and noticed he was “bleeding significantly.” Emergency responders arrived due to the man’s injuries and Serrano’s “non-responsive behavior.”

Serrano was handcuffed, and a deputy noticed she was “wet from what appeared to be blood and sweat.” Her eyes were also reportedly wide. She was breathing rapidly and “was verbally non-responsive.”

After a closer look, the deputy noticed a large bump on her forehead and a bruise around her right eye.

Deputies interviewed the man, who said he was sleeping upstairs when Serrano “came up and started stabbing him.”

He said Serrano was not there when he went to sleep but came to the house about five to 10 minutes before deputies arrived.

The man said he had not been talking to Serrano that evening, then told deputies, “I feel like I’m dying,” before saying that Serrano pushed him “all the way down off my top ladder.”

The witness’s description of the stabbing

Deputies interviewed the witness, who said she was asleep on the downstairs couch when she woke up to the victim telling her to run.

The woman said she wasn’t sure who Serrano was and was “afraid that (Serrano) was going to harm her because (Serrano) sounded like a lunatic.”

She also told deputies she believed Serrano had broken into the cabin a few nights before and stolen the woman’s cell phone.

The woman told deputies that Serrano had texted the victim that she wanted to fight him “to the death.”

The search of the cabin

During the cabin search, deputies said the kitchen counter at the base of the ladder to the loft was knocked over.

There was also a “significant amount of what (deputies) believe to be (the victim’s) blood throughout the cabin,” next to the couch, on the couch, on the front of the couch, on the armrest, on the dresser in the living room, on a blanket, and on the bed in the second story loft.

The railing on the loft was reportedly broken, and a deputy found a pair of scissors with yellow handles on the counter, “which had dried and wet blood on them.”

Deputies also saw blood on Serrano but didn’t see any actively bleeding wounds. There was reportedly blood on the headlamp, both jackets she was wearing, and almost covering her pants.

Victim’s neighbors version of events

Deputies spoke to the victim’s neighbors, who told them they heard “quiet arguing” before a “loud thud like something fell or like something broke, which then progressed to loud yelling and arguing.”

The neighbors also said the victim came to their home within the last few days and “apologized for past disturbances.”

The victim reportedly told his neighbors that he was “done with (Serrano), told them how she was crazy, and how she had held scissors to his ribs during an incident in the past.”

After deputies interviewed the witness and neighbors, Serrano was arrested and booked into jail at the Teton County Sheriff’s Office.

The victim was transported to Teton Valley Hospital for his injuries, according to court documents.

The victim’s description of the alleged stabbing

While at the hospital, deputies continued interviewing the victim and the witness. They learned from the victim that Serrano had stabbed the victim before, in September, in the side with the same scissors. One of the charges of aggravated battery is for that alleged incident.

During this instance, Serrano allegedly told the victim, “I will murder you in your own house.”

On another night in September, the victim says he stopped Serrano from stabbing him and, later in the day, caused her to “fall off the deck and hurt her finger.”

According to the victim, he had gone to the Family Safety Network in Driggs earlier in the day on Monday to apply for a civil protection order against Serrano.

That night, he went to bed between 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. The victim says he fell asleep in his bed on the second-floor loft area and was in a “deep sleep” when he was “awakened to (Serrano) straddling his body and stabbing him in the head.”

The victim says he was stabbed multiple times before he realized what was happening. He says he sat up and rolled over, getting (Serrano) off him.

He yelled to the woman downstairs for help, but he didn’t think she heard him.

At this point, Serrano and the victim were both kneeling on the bed when Serrano reportedly “kicked or shoved (the victim) off the bed,” according to court documents.

The victim says he fell off the bed, off the loft area, and landed on the ground level kitchen countertop before falling onto the floor, according to court documents.

At this point, the victim yelled to the witness to call the cops. He told deputies he felt “helpless at this point with the wind knocked out of him, stab wounds, and pain in his rips.”

According to the victim, Serrano only said one thing during the entire fight – asking who the other woman was.

The victim told deputies she “was not there to talk. She was there to hurt him.”

Court documents say Serrano then came down from ladder from the loft and allegedly stabbed the victim “at least five more times.”

Eventually, the victim got the scissors away from Serrano, and threw them. He then got on top of Serrano and “punched her several times to the right side of her face.”

He noticed Serrano’s phone inside her pocket and tried to press the emergency button, but the phone was locked.

Serrano’s version of events

Deputies later located Serrano’s 2002 white Ford Ranger in a parking lot on Old Jackson Highway. A K-9 unit performed a free-air sniff around the truck and positively alerted to illegal substances in the truck.

A sergeant reportedly found a bag of marijuana and a pipe inside the truck.

At the sheriff’s office, deputies interviewed Serrano, who said the victim and his landlord kicked her out of his cabin.

She also said a few days before the most recent stabbing, the victim accused Serrano of “burglarizing his cabin and stealing from him.”

According to Serrano, she was upset on Monday after learning the victim was dating someone, and decided to return some money she borrowed from him and confront him.

She admitted to deputies she was acting “out of anger.”

Serrano told deputies she parked her truck at a parking lot, snuck up to the cabin door, and announced herself by saying, “hey.”

She says the victim then said, “come up here.” According to Serrano, she did not have the scissors with her while they were in the loft, but the situation “got heated.”

According to Serrano, the victim “punched her in the head, they fell off the loft together onto the kitchen counter,” then she grabbed the scissors and started “stabbing him in response to him punching her,” according to court documents.

When she was confronted by the deputies, saying they didn’t believe that they both fell off the loft, Serrano responded, “I thought we both fell down together, but I don’t remember.”

She also admitted to threatening to kill the victim in the past and texting him things like “let’s fight to the death.”

Serrano was booked with a $250,000 bond, but was released and sent to pre-trial supervision on Tuesday.

A no-contact order was issued for the victim and the witness.

Serrano is expected to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Oct. 11. If convicted, she could face up to 55 years in prison.

Though Serrano has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean she committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.