Onalaska teenager charged with attempted homicide found competent

ONALASKA, Wis. (WEAU) - An Onalaska teenage boy charged in a September stabbing is found competent to proceed with court hearings.

According to documents filed with charges in La Crosse County Circuit Court on Sept. 7, 17-year-old Austin Bailey was charged with attempted 1st-degree intentional homicide with the use of a dangerous weapon and burglary while armed with a dangerous weapon after allegedly stabbing a sleeping teenage girl multiple times with a knife on Sept. 2..

A competency exam was ordered on Sept. 8 following Bailey’s first court appearance. The report was filed on Sept. 26. During a competency hearing on Oct. 12, Bailey was found competent to continue with court proceedings, and the court scheduled a preliminary hearing for Oct. 19, according to online court records.

In the criminal complaint filed with the charges, the Onalaska Police Department said a 15-year-old girl told dispatchers early in the morning on Sept. 2 that there was a person at her home trying to stab her and that her pinky finger was hanging off, and wasn’t sure where the person had fled to. Police began looking for the suspect, Bailey, with help from Bailey’s mother. Bailey was found about a mile and a half north of the mobile home park a short time later. Officers ordered Bailey, who was holding a knife, to surrender, and Bailey asked the officers to shoot him. Police used a “less-lethal round” and hit Bailey in the leg, which some of the impact of the round was absorbed by a phone in Bailey’s pocket. Bailey surrendered the knife and was taken into custody, according to court documents.

The 15-year-old girl told police she was sleeping at home when she woke up to find Bailey attempting to strangle her. She told police that she was able to break free and began punching Bailey, who took out a knife and began stabbing her while she was on the bed. She said that she knocked the knife free and kept hitting Bailey until he took the knife and fled through the window, according to the criminal complaint. The girl told police that she thought Bailey was probably trying to kill her and explained that they were together earlier in the night when Bailey dropped her off at home, but she had learned from a friend that Bailey had taken pictures of her without consent while she was in her bed sleeping and kept them in a folder called “love of my life.” She said she messaged Bailey to tell him to never speak to her again and he responded by apologizing. The girl then told Bailey in a message to “lose her number.” Copies of the messages were taken by evidence, according to police in documents filed with the charges.

The girl’s injuries included a stab wound to her head which required staples to close, a stab wound to the left side of her neck requiring stitches, several shallow lacerations on her upper left arm and chest, and a severe laceration to her left pinky finger, according to the criminal complaint.