Woman faces attempted murder charges

A woman is accused of attempting to kill the father of her children as they watched during an early morning stabbing on March 30 in Owatonna.
Tierrah Vachon Lee Wells, 34, of Waseca, has been charged with second-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault causing great bodily harm in Steele County District Court. Both counts carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Police responded to 1120 School St. E. around 3:47 a.m. March 30 for a report of a stabbing. When officers arrived, they found the victim, Charles Ellis, 42, on the dining room floor with two stab wounds to the chest. According to police reports, an officer saw Ellis stop breathing, did not find a pulse, and found his pupils did not react to light stimulus. Officers performed CPR on Ellis.
Witnesses told police that Ellis had been stabbed with a kitchen knife. They also told officers that his girlfriend, whom they met for the first time, had stabbed him. Officers discovered Ellis had an Order for Protection against Wells.
Mayo Ambulance took Ellis to the airport in Owatonna where North Memorial Air Care airlifted him to St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester. He was last reported to be in critical condition with life-threatening injuries.
The investigation revealed that Ellis and Wells had been arguing about their relationship earlier the previous day. They also had been drinking throughout the day. At one point, a witness saw Wells with a knife during the argument and turned around to find Ellis holding his chest.
Another witness said the two had been fighting for a bit and things just escalated from there. During the argument, Wells allegedly went into the kitchen to grab a knife. Ellis tried to keep Wells from leaving because she had been drinking. The witness said the couple's young children saw the entire event unfold before Wells fled with them from the apartment, the complaint said.
Waseca Police found Wells during a traffic stop in Waseca around 11 a.m. on March 30. The young children, ages 5 and 4, were with her in the vehicle. Officers took Wells and the two children into custody.
Police, along with a social worker from MN Prairie, conducted interviews with the children. The youngest child told authorities that "his dad was bleeding because mom poked him with a knife," the complaint said. When given a body diagram, the child circled the chest area and torso area.
The oldest child did not make any disclosures during his statement.
In an interview with police, Wells initially denied any involvement in the stabbing. She gave investigators conflicting information as to her whereabouts the previous day. When confronted with witness statements, Wells changed her story and admitted she had been with Ellis. She said the two argued because he wanted to use her truck and he had been drinking.
When investigators asked Wells what she thought her children would tell officers during a forensic interview, she became upset and indicated she did not want her children interviewed, police said.
Wells has no prior convictions in Minnesota. She is currently locked up at the Steele County Detention Center in Owatonna with bail set at $500,000. She will appear in court again on Thursday.
It's unknown who has custody of the two children.