An Anchorage man tried to kill his former girlfriend Monday night by stabbing her repeatedly, according to police.
Officers arrested Mark Stephin Horton, 50, and charged him with attempted murder, assault and reckless endangerment in the East Anchorage attack on Sharon Collins, 44, according to a charging document.
Collins said Tuesday she was "not good at all" but glad to be alive.
Collins had ended a five-month-long relationship with Horton in May after enduring beatings from him, she said. She left town for a time and told Horton over the phone earlier in July she still didn't want to be with him.
On Monday night, Collins visited her sister, Horton's ex-sister-in-law, with whom Horton was staying.
"I knew he was there, but I didn't think he was mad at me or anything," Collins said. "He was talking calm. He was laughing, joking."
It was when Collins left to go home that Horton approached her, she said.
"He wanted me to go back to the room with him. I told him no," Collins said. "He punched me in the face and pushed me in and locked the door and started stabbing me, telling me, 'I'm going to kill to you.' "
According to the charges, Collins' sister heard her screaming, burst into the room and threw a ceramic statue at Horton, hitting him in the head. Horton looked stunned, and that allowed them to escape, Collins said.
"I was thinking I was going to die," she said. "There was blood everywhere. I was trying to fight for my life."
Collins' son-in-law rushed her to the hospital. She had five puncture wounds to her neck, chest and face and three slash wounds to her neck, arm and fingers, the charges say.
Collins said she was set for surgery Wednesday on her fingers, which were cut severely.
Police officers found Horton near the home, wearing a white hooded sweatshirt and black jeans covered in blood, the charges say. They immediately arrested him, police said.
It was the second time in three months Horton attacked Collins, according to charges filed against Horton in May.
Collins told a police officer May 6 that Horton punched her in the face at the same East 16th Avenue residence when she tried to end their relationship, according to the charges. Collins was holding her 6-year-old grandson at the time, and another 7-year-old grandson was also in the home, the officer wrote, noting Collins' face appeared puffy and she looked to be developing a black eye.
In a domestic violence restraining order she filed for and received the next day, Collins described the assault in more detail.
Horton came into Collins' bedroom, where she was asleep with her grandson, she wrote. Horton was angry because she wasn't sleeping with him, so he threw her out of bed and locked her in his room, Collins wrote.
"He (asked), 'Are you going to leave me?' I said yes, then he hit me in the face," Collins wrote.
Collins said Horton has HIV and would try to have unprotected sex with her, causing them to fight. In April, Horton had locked her in his room and beat her all night, Collins wrote.
"No one was home. No one heard me cry," she wrote about that incident.
Collins said she left Alaska to visit family in Louisiana after the May charges. During that time, Horton called her sister's house and threatened Collins and her sister, Collins said.
"I told him I didn't want to deal with him any more. All he did was lie," she said. "He told (my sister) he was going to kill me and kill her."
Court records show prosecutors dropped the May assault and family violence charges against Horton. Collins said she thought that might have been because she was out of town for the court hearings. The case was officially thrown out July 23, a week before the stabbing.
Horton was back in court for an appearance on the new charges Tuesday. He told a judge evaluating his financial information that he worked in construction. At the end of the hearing, Horton asked for a speedy trial.
The judge set Horton's bail at $500,000, with an additional $50,000 cash requirement Horton could lose if he doesn't make his future court appearances.
Horton's Alaska charges follow a 1996 conviction in East Baton Rouge Parish, La., for sexual battery and kidnapping, according to the National Sex Offender Registry.
Collins said the woman in the Louisiana case was Horton's girlfriend at the time. He spent 11 years behind bars after his conviction, Collins said. She'd known him since they were kids, and Collins' sister was once married to Horton's brother, Collins said.
Still, with his history, why was she with him?
"I knew all the bad things about him, but I don't know. I need to ask myself that question. He is a bad guy," Collins said. "When he got out, I thought I knew him, but I didn't know him. I won't make that mistake again. That mistake almost cost me my life."
Reach Casey Grove at casey.grove@adn.com or 257-4589.
By CASEY GROVE
Anchorage Daily News