VALPARAISO — A 24-year-old Niceville man is being held without bond in the Okaloosa County Jail and is facing felony charges of attempted murder and resisting arrest without violence after allegedly slitting his girlfriend’s throat.
At 10:17 p.m. Sunday, Niceville police officers arrested Casey Paul Dekker at his residence at 107 Arrowhead Drive. This was after the Valparaiso Police Department obtained an arrest warrant following their investigation of an incident that took place at 9 Carie Way in Valparaiso.
According to an arrest report from the Valparaiso Police Department, at about 3:32 a.m. Friday, the victim’s mother, who resides at the same residence, was awakened by her daughter’s cries for help. She discovered the victim had an approximately 5-inch long by 2-inch deep cut across her throat.
The mother stayed with her daughter until emergency personnel arrived. She then entered her daughter’s room, where she discovered the victim’s 2-year-old son unharmed and asleep in his mother’s blood-soaked bed, according to the release.
Valparaiso Police Investigator Carl Bonham reported he was able to talk briefly with the victim at Fort Walton Beach Medical Center prior to her undergoing surgery. He said the victim told him she remembered falling asleep earlier, and then waking up feeling wet and sticky.
When asked if she had any idea who could have attacked her, she said “my boyfriend,” Bonham wrote in the arrest report. He reported the victim told him she had a verbal altercation with Dekker earlier that day.
Dekker was on probation at the time of the attack as the result of a previous charge of felony battery against the same victim in March.
Dekker was initially able to evade police when they attempted to arrest him walking to a taxi on College Boulevard later Friday morning. Dekker was able to flee into the wooded area and avoid detection.
Niceville Police Department arrested Dekker Sunday at his home after a warrant for his arrest had been issued.
After undergoing surgery, the victim was released from the hospital Friday afternoon. She is expected to make a full recovery.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Kelly Humphrey at 850-315-4443 or khumphrey@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @kellyhnwfdn.