Suspect: Stabbing accidental
A woman accused of homicide claimed her boyfriend accidentally stabbed himself in the chest — leaving a six-and-a-half-inch deep wound — while opening cat food with a kitchen knife at their Butler apartment, investigators said.
That was the account police said 31-year-old Shaina A. Grush gave them early Sunday morning after they found her applying pressure to the wound on the left side of Robert G. Wagner Jr.'s chest.
But police report officers found no open cans of cat food at the apartment on the 100 block of West Jefferson Street to substantiate Grush's story.
Later, investigators found a man who they believe saw the defendant thrust the knife into Wagner's chest. The 43-year-old victim died a short time later at Butler Memorial Hospital's emergency room.
He was pronounced dead around 2:40 a.m. An autopsy determined he died of a stab wound to the chest.
Police later arrested Grush, who remains in the Butler County Prison without bail on a general charge of homicide.
Investigators said Grush called 911 just after 2 a.m. Sunday to report the stabbing. A dispatcher provided her with instructions to apply pressure to stop the bleeding.
Upon entering the apartment, police officers described in court documents seeing Grush bent over the top of Wagner, who was on his back. She had blood on her arms and he was having difficulty breathing.
“Grush advised that she believed Wagner had accidentally cut or stabbed himself while attempting to open cat food,” according to an application for a search warrant police would later obtain for the apartment.
But she was in the bathroom, she recounted, and had not seen what happened.
Police noticed a 12-inch non-serrated kitchen knife in the kitchen sink. The 8-inch blade appeared to have fresh blood smeared on the first 4 to 5 inches of the blade. There was also blood splatter in the corner of the sink.
Also noticeable, police said, were empty cans of alcoholic beverages strewn about the kitchen counter top near the sink.
Butler fire department and Butler Ambulance Service medics arrived and assisted Wagner before he was rushed to the hospital.
Grush told police her 11-year-old son was sleeping in a back bedroom and had not seen what happened. She also recounted that a man she knew only by his first name had been at the home and had watched her son while she and Wagner walked to a convenience store down the road.
Once they returned home, she told authorities she went into the bathroom. She also claimed the other man left.“Grush advised that she did not see Wagner opening the cat food container,” the search warrant document said, “but she heard Wagner say something aloud about feeding the cats.”Moments later, according to her account, she found him at the bathroom door. He appeared to be holding his chest, and he told her that he “cut himself.”Police noted that they saw two cats in the apartment. But they found no opened cat food cans.An inventory list compiled during the search indicated police collected two Starkist tuna cans — one that was cut open with a knife and the other that was opened with a can opener — from a makeshift garbage container.The cans did not appear as if they had been opened recently, investigators said.Police eventually tracked down the 37-year-old man who had been at the apartment with the couple. Detective Lt. Chad Rensel described him as a friend of Wagner's.According to investigators, the man told police the couple started arguing after they returned to the apartment from the store.“Wagner told Grush he was tired of arguing, and was going to leave,” according to charging documents. He started packing beer into a back pack.The witness further told authorities Grush threatened her boyfriend, allegedly telling him, “I will stab you in the face,” police said.Wagner, according to the witness, allegedly asked Grush, “With what?”The defendant allegedly opened a kitchen drawer and pulled out the knife. Police report the witness said Wagner was stabbed near the bathroom.The victim grabbed his chest and collapsed onto the floor in front of the bathroom. Grush allegedly yelled, “Oh my God, did I really do that?” according to the witness' account.A canvass of neighbors turned up no one who reported hearing anything suspicious that night, Rensel said.During the investigation, the detective said police reviewed street surveillance cameras that showed Grush and Wagner going to and from the store. They got there at 1:42 a.m.The footage suggested the couple might have been arguing. The store clerk also told officers that he remembered the pair entering the store and “they appeared to be having a disagreement over the Access Card,” the search warrant document said.Police said the couple was seen on the video leaving the store and walking back toward their apartment at 1:55 a.m.Grush was taken to the police station for a formal interview around 4:30 a.m. Sunday, Rensel said. He declined to say if she provided a statement to police.Rensel said that a motive in the case is unclear. He added that the investigation is ongoing.Grush's preliminary hearing is scheduled June 24. It was not known if she has an attorney.
