Woman who was stabbed in back now faces charges for robbery

Published 10:20 am Friday, January 6, 2012

Two months ago, Austin police believed Tairicca Cierre Einfeldt was the victim of a stabbing and attempted rape. Now they believe she was involved in a ploy to rob an Austin man.

Einfeldt

Einfeldt, 20, pleaded not guilty Thursday to three felony charges stemming from the Oct. 29, 2011, incident. She is charged with two counts of first-degree burglary and one count of first-degree aggravated robbery.

Police began investigating the multi-faceted case the night of Oct. 29, when they were called to Mayo Clinic Health System in Austin to speak to Einfeldt, who had been stabbed in the lower back. According to the court complaint, Einfeldt said she had been drinking with a Hispanic man when he decided he wanted to have sex. She told police she initially consented but changed her mind, at which point the man allegedly retrieved a knife from the kitchen and indicated he was going to force sex on her.

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Einfeldt said she was stabbed in the midst of an argument when her boyfriend, Hans G. Kitange, 18, came into the apartment and started fighting with the man. According to the court complaint, police were unclear how Einfeldt was stabbed or by whom when she gave her account.

Kitange faces the same criminal charges as Einfeldt and is scheduled to make his plea in Mower County District Court today.

Kitange’s story echoed Einfeldt’s with a few inconsistencies, and he changed the version of his story a few times when police interviewed him, according to the court complaint. Police found an unpackaged condom on the floor of the apartment, and the man’s neighbors — upon hearing him scream for help — checked on him and allegedly found him shirtless and fixing his pants.

A couple of days after the incident, police were able to contact the man Einfeldt claimed tried to rape her. He said Einfeldt, who he had met on a few occasions, came to his apartment and said she would have sex with him for money. He offered her a total of $30, retrieved a condom and got undressed. However, Einfeldt reportedly began drinking the man’s bottle of rum and looking out the window repeatedly, so the man became disinterested in having sex with her.

The man told police Einfeldt looked out the window after a couple minutes and said, “The cops aren’t coming,” at which point Kitange allegedly entered the apartment and tried to steal the man’s wallet. According to the court complaint, a struggle ensued and led the three to the kitchen, where Kitange allegedly yelled at Einfeldt to grab a knife. The man told police he was afraid the couple would kill him, so he took the knife, began screaming for help in Spanish and stabbed Einfeldt in the back, according to court documents.

The man’s neighbors told police they heard him screaming for help, which is why they checked on him. According to the court complaint, they never heard a woman screaming.

The man left out the details of the alleged prostitution the first time he spoke to police for fear they would charge him with a crime, according to the court complaint.

Einfeldt is scheduled to begin a jury trial on March 5.