A Racine man is accused of slitting his girlfriend’s throat after the two consumed crack cocaine, according to the Racine District Attorney’s Office.
Lewis Caples, 50, was charged by the Racine County DA on Monday with 1st degree attempted intentional homicide, domestic abuse (repeater). If convicted, Caples faces up to 66 years in prison.
According to the criminal complaint, Caples brought his girlfriend to the hospital after she suffered a six-inch laceration to her throat that just missed her main artery. Caples told police he and his girlfriend were out celebrating the Packer game at a tavern downtown. When the couple came home he and his girlfriend were attacked by someone inside their home in the 1700 block of Erie St. Their dog Zeus was also stabbed.
At the hospital though, a relative told police that Caples and his girlfriend used to live with them, but she asked him to leave because he was using crack cocaine and that she didn’t believe he owned a dog. After the woman had surgery to her neck, she was placed in the critical care unit. When she was awake she indicated that Caples was the one who slashed her throat after she told him he had to leave.
When police interviewed Caples, he initially stuck to the story about the intruder in the house and told the investigator that he was a veteran who served eight years in the Marines. The two were fighting when his girlfriend told him she hated him. He wanted to used the knife on himself, but she wouldn’t let him.
“He stated ‘It happened so fast’ and then right after it happened, he grabbed her and told her that he was sorry and that he loved her,” according to the complaint.
After the woman had the breathing tube removed, she told police there was no fight. They had both smoked crack cocaine. She went into the bedroom and Caples came up behind her and cut her throat. Other people told the woman that Caples couldn’t handle drugs and that he has mental health issues.
Lewis is being held at the Racine County Jail on a $75,000 cash bond. A preliminary hearing has been set for 8:30 a.m. Dec. 16 in front of Racine County Court Commissioner Alice Rudebusch.
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