Stabbing suspect facing assault charges, held on $500K bond

SHELTON — A 35year-old woman police said was choked and stabbed at a Walnut Tree Hill Road home Tuesday while two teens were at the residence told police afterward she thought she was going to die during the incident.

In an arrest warrant affidavit, police said an argument at the home preceded a physical altercation during which 38year-old Christopher Graham stabbed the woman in the chest with an 8-inch steak knife before he left the home in a vehicle owned by the woman’s husband prior to his arrest in Trumbull Wednesday afternoon.

Graham was arraigned at state Superior Court in Derby Thursday on charges of second-degree assault, second-degree strangulation, first-degree reckless endangerment, two counts of risk of injury, carrying a dangerous weapon, and disorderly conduct. Judge Stephanie Damiani ordered him held in lieu of $500,000 bond.

Graham remained at Bridgeport Correctional Center Friday, and is scheduled to return to court in Derby May 7. He is not yet represented by an attorney in the case.

According to the affidavit, written by Shelton Police Detective Richard Bango, police were called to the home just before 8 p.m. Tuesday on a report of a stabbing. Officers arrived to find the victim standing at the top of the driveway with a bloody shirt and her hand on the left side of her chest.

Inside the home, cops reportedly found empty beer cans and a half full bottle of whisky on the kitchen table, with blood staining the floor and the wall by the home’s front door.

While being treated in an ambulance for her injuries, including three lacerations to her chest, the victim told police she and a friend, Sarah Graf, were celebrating that day because Graf was moving to North Carolina, and that Graham, who also lived at the home, was drinking with them, according to the affidavit.

The woman told police that an argument occurred after Graham became intoxicated, and that she “stuck up” for Graf, after which Graham grabbed a kitchen knife and said he was going to hurt himself, prompting the victim to try to stop him, police said.

According to the affidavit, Bango then asked the woman if she was stabbed when she tried to stop Graham from hurting himself.

“No he lunged at me and stabbed me,” the woman told police according to the report, stating that when they were arguing, Graham had said, “You don’t get what I can do to you.”

Later, while being treated at the hospital, she told another officer that she couldn’t remember whether she had lost consciousness during the attack, “but she thought she was going to die,” the affidavit said. The officer took photographs of bruising on the victim’s neck.

Detectives also spoke to two teens who were at the scene. One of the teens, who called 911 to report the incident, reportedly told police that Graham, Graf, and the victim had been drinking in the kitchen and were arguing about Graf moving.

“Graham was upset with Graf for moving away and became physical with both Graf and (the victim) near the front door to the residence,” the affidavit quotes the teen as telling police.

The teen said she then went to the kitchen and grabbed a steak knife, “hoping that everyone would calm down,” police said. But instead, the adults yelled at her to put the knife away. She told police she did so, but later she and the other teen heard the victim yell that Graham had punched her in the face, and that moments later the victim said to call police, according to the affidavit.

The teen told police that after she dialed 911, Graf tried to grab the phone from her and told her to hang up because she did not want to see her friend, Graham, get arrested, according to the affidavit. Graf was later charged with interfering with an emergency call and released on a $1,000 bond, with a court date of May 3.

At Graham’s arraignment Thursday, the judge issued a protective order in the case and ordered that if Graham is able to post bond, he do so only at the courthouse after being fitted with a GPS bracelet.