NEWS ALERT - Woman Charged In Stabbing Incident, Warrant Issued for Victim

BY KELLI PEACOCK DUNN
News Editor

An arrest has been made and another is pending following an investigation into a December stabbing incident in Clarksville.

As reported last month by The County Record, Diana Jo Bates, 29, was rushed to Bay Medical Center Dec. 15 after allegedly being stabbed. According to the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office, Dep. Bobby Sims, Sgt. Jared Nichols and Inv. Mark Mallory responded to a home on NW Baggett Loop just after 6 p.m. They spoke with Bates and her boyfriend, Justin Woody, who claimed Pamela Bowden, 43, who lives with them, came home and started an altercation over a cell phone. Diana reportedly confronted Pamela in the front yard and, at one point, thought Pamela had punched her in her left side. However, she looked down and saw blood. Pamela then got in her car and left the residence.

Bates was hospitalized for treatment. She reported receiving four stitches to a one inch stab wound that was four inches deep in her side.
Meanwhile, Lt. Mark Mallory located Bowden at her mother’s home. Although visibly shaken, Bowden said she was alright. No weapons were found on her person or in her vehicle. Bowden alleged Bates attacked her with an unknown weapon while in the yard of the home they share and admitted to stabbing her, but said it was in self defense. She said she didn’t know what she had done with the knife used in the stabbing.

After arriving home from the hospital, Bates reportedly told Lt. Mallory she and Bowden had been arguing for a couple days before the stabbing incident. She said on that day, the argument escalated when Bowden was in her car and Bates was on the front porch. Bates said she went toward Bowden at the same time Bowden came toward her to fight. Bates said she had no weapon in her hand and didn’t see that Bowden was armed with a knife. Bates told Lt. Mallory she assumed she and Bowden would have a physical altercation to settle their differences, then move forward residing together because they were friends. Bates said, as she got to Bowden, she realized she had been stabbed and 911 was called.

A week later, a follow up interview was conducted with Bowden who said, on the night in question, she was sitting in her car while Bates was standing in the doorway of the house in the midst of a verbal altercation. She spotted a knife in the seat and decided to arm herself. When Bates came toward her, Bowden said she thought Bates picked up a black object. She then met Bates in the yard, alleged Bates hit her in the thumb, then she stabbed Bates. Bowden still couldn’t recall what she did with the knife.

Other witnesses were interviewed, but the knife was never recovered. Bowden said the black object she thought Bates picked up could have been a sock with a padlock inside that her friend later found, but other witnesses denied seeing Bates with anything in her hand.
Due to the fact that Bates said she intended to fight Bowden that day, and since the two women reside together, Lt. Mallory concluded the incident constituted domestic violence by both parties.

Bowden has been charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon (domestic violence) and is being held without bond. A warrant has also been issued for Bates’ arrest on charges of domestic violence assault.