ST. GEORGE, Utah — A St. George woman who survived a brutal stabbing attack just days ago walked across the stage to receive her diploma Wednesday.
Kourtney Mansfield graduated from Dixie Tech – a trade school in St. George -- with a degree in digital media and design, less than a week after being stabbed five times while working as a caretaker.
"For me, it was a very beautiful thing to realize that just days ago, she was on the brink of death. She looked very happy and vibrant, particularly for what she's been through," said Bing Thomas, the neighbor who called police after Mansfield appeared at his door bleeding.
St. George man arrested after stabbing caregiver multiple times
Thomas didn't expect to be at the graduation ceremony giving Mansfield flowers, but their connection formed through tragedy brought him there.
The attack happened sometime after 2 a.m. on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, when Mansfield was working an overnight shift caring for a 72-year-old client.
"I was just actually up taking some medicine and it was 2 a.m. and as I was going in the kitchen doing that then I heard the doorknob turn," Thomas said. "So it was silent for a minute. Then the doorbell began to just ring, ring, ring, ring, ring just incessantly. And so I said, who's there? And then this sweet, small voice said, you know, I'm bleeding out. I've been stabbed. I need help. I'm dying."
Police say Mansfield was sitting on a couch during her graveyard shift when she was stabbed five times from behind, including wounds to her head and back. One stab wound nicked an artery near her heart, and she also suffered a defensive wound on her hand.
Initially, Mansfield knocked on several doors in the neighborhood, leaving a trail of blood before reaching Thomas' home.
The blood trail led to some confusion for responding officers.
In a statement, St. George Police said:
"The initial call came in of just someone screaming and saying they needed help. There was no address given, we just had a general area. So when officers arrived, they followed a blood trail and found blood on a door. Assuming that the injured person was inside, they breached that door, but did not enter the home because just then they were summoned by other officers that the victim was at a different residence. Officer secured the house, the house was unoccupied at the time and St. George City is working with the family to make it right."
The homeowner of the breached residence told FOX 13 on Wednesday that she had not yet been contacted by police. She said when she called the city, she was told to email them and received a response that the city was not liable and to check with their homeowner's insurance.
Another neighbor two doors down from the incident said she did not hear the commotion and was unaware there was a care home half a block away in the upper middle-class neighborhood.
"This is a very safe neighborhood," said Shyla Harris.
After walking about 40 yards down the block, Mansfield found help from Thomas, who called police and tried to comfort her.
"She kept just holding onto me and asking, asking me to reassure that she wasn't going to die. I said, sweetheart, we're going to get through this," Thomas said.
And she did. After surgeries that, according to the family, included nine staples in her head and several stitches in her chest, back, hands, and ankle, she was released from the hospital Tuesday night. The next day, she received her diploma.
The aerospace worker who had been a stranger to Mansfield couldn't be prouder of her resilience.
"Things looked iffy, you know, we shed tears over it. You know, even though we didn't know her, you know, obviously just meeting in that brief tragedy, but at the same time, we felt a connection for her and wanted really, we wanted to will her to be able to live and fulfill the measure of her creation," Thomas said. "It just gives you hope in life that good does triumph."
