Vanessa Renee Henschel of Mountain Home refused to speak during an appearance in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday and Judge Gordon Webb was told she had also refused to speak to staff at the Baxter County jail and to cooperate in a recent court-ordered psychological examination, and would not communicate with her lawyer, Mark Cooper.
Judge Webb addressed Henschel during her appearance which was done by video hookup from the Baxter County jail, telling her he hoped she would begin to communicate with her lawyer so preparations could be made for her trial which is now set for the week of August 7th. Henschel sat mute. The judge then asked if she would be willing to discuss her case with Cooper and, again, she sat mute. The judge finally asked Henschel if she was going to answer his questions but she sat silently staring straight ahead.
The 24-year-old Henschel recently underwent a psychological evaluation, but it was reported that she refused to follow the evaluation protocol, was uncooperative and “oppositional” during the evaluation.
During a recent stay in the McPherson Unit of the state prison system at Newport, Henschel racked up 30 disciplinary violations, including multiple counts of failure to obey orders, insolence to a staff member, threats to inflict injury, battery, and unnecessary noise or play.
Henschel will go to trial on charges stemming from her arrest in February last year for allegedly stabbing an acquaintance at a local motel. Mountain Home police responded to a 911 call reporting a stabbing in a room at the Town and County Motor Inn. Investigators found that Henschel had gone to the motel to speak to the victim with whom she had a previous relationship. She was let into the room by the victim’s boyfriend. The boyfriend then left the room to retrieve articles from a vehicle when he heard screaming coming from the room. He ran back into the room and said he found Henschel astride his girlfriend stabbing her. The boyfriend struck Henschel knocking her off the victim. In the initial booking photo of Henschel taken at the Baxter County jail, the effects of the blow are pronounced with blood covering most of the center of Henschel’s face.
The then 23-year-old victim received non-life-threatening injuries to her neck and upper torso.
The victim told officers there was no conversation between her and Henschel prior to the attack. She said she was lying in bed and Henschel jumped on top of her and started stabbing her while saying that she was sorry throughout the attack.
The knife wielded by Henschel during the attack, which had a five inch blade, was in the room and not brought there by Henschel, according to investigators.
Henschel was booked on first degree battery charges and also faced a parole violation.
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