Victor woman takes plea deal for rider after being charged with attempted murder

VICTOR — A 48-year-old woman has signed a plea deal after police say she tried to kill a man by pushing him off a loft and stabbing him repeatedly.

Luna Nicoya Phaedra Serrano signed a plea agreement that was filed in April, stating she would plead guilty to felony aggravated battery in exchange for the prosecution agreeing to “not bring any further charges” related to the case.

The state also agreed to recommend a retained jurisdiction, or a “rider” at sentencing.

A “rider” or a retained jurisdiction, means Serrano will be sent to a treatment program in prison for one year. Once the program is done, the judge can decide whether or not to send Serrano to prison for an underlying term or release her onto probation.

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Serrano was initially charged in October 2023 and pleaded not guilty to felony attempted first-degree murder, felony burglary, and two counts of felony aggravated battery. Usually, these charges could mean Serrano would face up to 55 years in prison.

EastIdahoNews.com contacted Teton County Prosecutor Bailey Smith to clarify how the prosecution and defense reached this agreement.

“Aggravated battery carries the same penalty as attempted murder, and the addition of other counts in this circumstance would be unlikely to change the sentencing outcome given the likelihood of concurrent sentences. In terms of the plea agreement, while I have every confidence that the defendant committed the crimes we charged her with, this case had certain difficulties of proof that could have presented real challenges at a jury trial,” says Smith. “The State’s rider recommendation in the plea agreement is not binding on the judge, and he will be free to sentence Defendant Serrano however he sees fit, including to significant prison time if he believes necessary.”

Serrano’s sentencing is scheduled for Tuesday before District Judge Steven Boyce.

“Let’s fight to the death”

Teton County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 call at a home on Kestrel Hill Road in Victor on Oct. 2 at about 11 p.m. for a report of two people fighting.

A witness, who had been inside the home, told deputies they had to “run outside” and were hiding under a truck. 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.”

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

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

Deputies say the man 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 victim, 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.

The man told deputies, “I feel like I’m dying,” before saying that Serrano pushed him “all the way down off my top ladder.”

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.”

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

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

Deputies also saw blood on Serrano’s headlamp, both jackets she was wearing, and almost covering her pants, but found no actively bleeding wounds on her.

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.

While at the hospital, deputies learned from the victim that Serrano had stabbed him before, in September, in the side with the same scissors and said, “I will murder you in your own house.”

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

That night, he fell asleep and 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.

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 the 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.”

Serrano later 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 the next day.