Johnson woman charged with murder, assault in stabbings

By Lilly Adkins

BSN Associate Editor

PAINTSVILLE — A Johnson County woman was charged with murder and assault after allegedly stabbing two other women on Nov. 2.

Kristie Lagena Blair, 47, of Oil Springs, is charged with murder and first-degree assault.

According to the arrest report, officers with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to 592 Hyden Branch at Van Lear in reference to an assault with a deadly weapon.

The caller, Marsha Bailey, advised that she and Bernadetta Blackburn had been stabbed by Blair, the report said.

Bailey said they had gotten the knife away from Blair and was restraining her, waiting on law enforcement and EMS to arrive, the report said.

When the officer arrived at the scene, he found Blackburn lying in the floor of the house with several stab wounds, including two to the neck and throat area, the report said.

Blackburn was unable to speak and was having trouble breathing, the report said.

Bailey had run outside to flag the officer down and then went back into the house to Blackburn, the report said. Blackburn also had stab wounds, including one to the right jaw and one in the left bicep area, the report said.

Blair was sitting in the floor across from Blackburn and seemed to be in a daze, the report said. She had a cut to her left leg and a cut on her left palm along with a black left eye, according to the report.

Bailey advised that they had thrown the knife across the room to keep it away from Blair, the report said, and the officer later found the knife behind the TV stand.

EMS arrived at the scene and transported Blackburn and Bailey to Highlands ARH in Prestonsburg, where Blackburn was pronounced dead at 9:52 p.m. Bailey was transferred to Pikeville Medical in serious but stable condition.

Blair was placed under arrest, read her Miranda rights and transported to Paul B. Hall Regional Medical Center in Paintsville for medical clearance before being taken to the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center.

In a statement at the hospital, Bailey said that Blair was in the bathroom when Blackburn went to tell her that the television program they had been watching was coming back on, the report said.

Blackburn knocked on the bathroom door and then entered, the report said. Bailey said she could hear Blackburn screaming, “She’s stabbing me, she’s stabbing me,” the report said. Blair and Blackburn fought to the living room, where Bailey and Blackburn were able to get the knife away from Blair and call 911, the report said.

At the hospital, when asked by the doctor what had happened, Blair said that she was in the bathroom when Blackburn came in and said that Blackburn was going to hit her, so she grabbed the knife. When Blackburn started hitting her, she started stabbing Blackburn.

Blair was lodged in the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center in Johnson County.