NCSO says woman stabbed husband in the neck, staged evidence of abuse

Investigators say Richardson’s shadow shows her swinging a sledgehammer and striking herself hours before stabbing the man in the neck.

CASPER, Wyo. — The Natrona County Sheriff’s Office says that a 37-year-old woman struck herself with a sledgehammer to create a self-defense claim hours before stabbing her husband in the neck last December.

On March 10, three months after the incident, Tabitha Richardson was charged with aggravated assault and battery in Natrona County Circuit Court. Judge Nichole Collier set a $30,000 cash or surety bond.

Investigators reviewed security cameras, text messages, phone downloads and Richardson’s mental health treatment records and found no evidence of abuse by her husband. When they investigated the home, they found blood on the floor and couch but no other evidence of a struggle, according to the affidavit.

Both Richardson and her husband called 911 on Dec. 9, 2025. The man said Richardson stabbed him without provocation while he was feeding an infant on the couch. He ran out of the house and drove his truck across the street while calling 911.

Richardson told a different story, saying her husband attacked her while she held the baby and she stabbed him in self-defense with a folding knife she kept in her bra. The NCSO says the knife lacked a spring-loaded feature and likely could not have been opened with one hand.

The couple’s older child, in the bathroom during the incident, reported hearing the man scream “What are you doing?” and Richardson respond, “What? What am I doing? You’re hurting me!”

Security footage from hours before the husband arrived shows Richardson with a small sledgehammer. Her shadow shows her swinging it and striking herself in the back, shoulders and ribs. Three days later, she showed investigators bruises that were round and consistent with the sledgehammer’s shape.