NEWAYGO, Mich. (June 4, 2014)– A Newaygo County judge ruled there is enough evidence to send a woman accused of stabbing her boyfriend to death to trial.
On Wednesday, Tricia Hill was brought into the courtroom in handcuffs. With tears running down her face she sat next to her attorney with her family sitting behind them. She’s charged with second-degree murder.
For the first time, details about what led up to the death of Charles Rainey III were revealed.
“We were removing the body from the scene, ” CJ Freriks, Newaygo County Sheriff’s Deputy, said.”We would lift the body up and underneath him there was a knife with a black handle, approximately 8 inches.”
Frerik said he arrived at the Ensley Township home the couple shared with a roommate and Hill’s daughter on the night of May 5. There, he found the body of Rainey, lifeless on the floor. Hill was giving him CPR, while their roommate and her daughter stood by.
“The 6-year-old girl was walking back and forth over him (Rainey), so I picked her up and brought her to her bedroom,” Freriks said.
CPR was taken over by Frerik and a Michigan State Trooper. Rainey died at the scene.
According to other witness testimony the stabbing stemmed from an argument between Rainey and Hill. Police said Hill reported that Rainey broke up with her on Facebook. Deputy Welsey Bierling said Hill told him Rainey began calling her names, which led to a physical fight.
“She advised me she had slapped Mr. Rainey in the face while he was lying n the couch in the living room,” Bierling said.
That’s when Hill told Bierling that Rainey assaulted her in return. She said Rainey then left the house for about 10 minutes. When Rainey returned, Hill said he went into a bedroom where she followed him.
“I would say from what she told me, I got the impression that I thought she was kind of taunting him,” Bierling said.
The fight carried over into the kitchen where Hill said Rainey slammed her up against the counter.
“She goes across the kitchen, to a different counter top, where she sees a knife and obtains a knife,” Bierling said.
Hill told the deputies she thought Rainey was going to another room at that time. Rainey, she said, turned around. That’s when she said she stabbed him.
“She had some blood smeared on her face, around her mouth and around her nose,” Bierling said. “She also had blood on her hands…blood on her clothing.”
Hill’s attorney said the sheriff’s department never sent the blood in for testing to prove whether it was hers or Rainey’s. She and her attorney are claiming the stabbing was self-defense.
Hill’s attorney asked the judge to send to her trial on a lesser charge of manslaughter. Their request was denied.
The judge said there were inconsistencies in Hill’s statements, saying she had opportunities to leave the home or call for help if she felt her life was in immediate danger.
Rainey’s family was inside the courtroom and spoke out about Hill’s claim that she acted in self-defense.
“Just let the world know, my son was not an abusive person, she was an abusive person,” Charles Rainey, Jr. said. “The truth’s gonna come out sooner or later. My son may have retaliated against her, who knows what happened that night, he can’t tell us…he’s dead.”
FOX 17 reached out to Hill’s family inside the courtroom but they didn’t want to comment.
A date has yet to be scheduled for the trial.
