Court docs: Ex-boyfriend refuses to give $40, woman stabs him

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - A woman has been charged with battery after she was accused of stabbing her ex-boyfriend in the back several times last week at a southside apartment complex.

According to Tippecanoe County court documents, just after 3 p.m. on March 11 Lafayette Police Department (LPD) officers were dispatched to the 3000 block of Pheasant Run Drive (in Pheasant Run Apartments) for a report of a stabbing.

When officers arrived, they found 27-year-old resident Brian Chapple with three knife wounds in his back.

Chapple told officers his ex-girlfriend, 21-year-old Ashley Niccum, had stabbed him.

He went on to explain to officers that he and Niccum had broken up the day before and she had come over to Pheasant Run on the 11th to gather her clothes and belongings.

Chapple said three of his friends had been in the apartment when Niccum arrived to get her things, and Chapple asked two of them to help her with carrying some belongings down to a car in the parking lot.

He told officers Niccum then returned for her laptop computer, and at that time, asked Chapple to give her $40. Chapple said he refused.

Chapple said at this point, they heard two other men in the hallway outside the apartment. He said the men came into his apartment by pushing their way in as Chapple was shutting the door.

Chapple said he retreated to a back bedroom, and once he was there, one of the men who had forced their way in pushed Chapple against the wall of the bedroom.

Chapple told police he struggled with the man, and he was able to hold the man against the wall. Chapple said this was when he was stabbed multiple times in the back.

As he turned, Chapple said he saw Niccum holding a knife.

Chapple’s three friends and the other intruding man were not in the bedroom at the time of the incident.

The two friends who helped Niccum with her things confirmed to police that they helped her carry her belongings down to the car. They also said they observed a struggle in the bedroom after the two males and Niccum charged Chapple.

Chapple’s third friend told police he saw Niccum stabbing Chapple with a knife, and also said when Chapple earlier refused to give Niccum $40, Niccum had told Chapple she "had people," and she would kill him.

Investigators found three knives in the bedroom, two of which were on a shelf in the closet and one which was on the floor. Each knife located on the closet shelf had “reddish stains” on it.

Officers also found sections of the bedroom carpet with blood stains. Additionally, Chapple and one of his friends both said Niccum left with the knife.

Niccum was arrested a short time later and booked in the Tippecanoe County Jail.

She faces one charge of battery, which is a Class C felony.

Meanwhile, after being released from Franciscan St. Elizabeth East Hospital, Chapple was arrested for a recent domestic battery incident.