Suspect in custody in Belle Plaine knife incidents

UPDATE: A Belle Plaine man was taken to jail on his 44th birthday, accused of stabbing his girlfriend and slicing another man's throat.

Stacy L. Rigler was arrested on suspicion of two counts of willful injury after the incident late Tuesday inside an apartment building at 1309 Seventh Ave., police said. Officers quickly took him into custody at the scene of the crime.

Belle Plaine Police Chief Kris Hudson said the double-stabbing was reported around 10:45 p.m. in apartment No. 13. The officer, who arrived less than a minute after the report, found a man bleeding heavily from the neck and a woman with a four-inch gash on her shoulder, Hudson said.

Rigler allegedly attacked Lawrence Schafer, 25, and Tammy Munson, 38, both of Belle Plaine, with a pocket knife, police said. Hudson said the knife was recovered.

Schafer and Munson were transported to Marengo Memorial Hospital, where they were treated and released Wednesday morning. Schafer, in an interview with SourceMedia Group, said it took about 120 stitches to close the cut on his neck.

“We could be investigating a death instead of an injury,” Hudson said.

Police said Rigler and Munson lived together at the apartment, and Schafer was an acquaintance. He said they were still reviewing the victims' statements to determine what led up to the incident.

“Alcohol was a definitely involved with all three of them,” Hudson said. “It was a domestic violence issue.”

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