Woman gets 19 years in prison for slashing her boyfriend with a samurai sword

A Washington state woman who repeatedly stabbed and slashed her boyfriend with a samurai sword after she thought he was cheating on her on Tinder, has been jailed for 19 years.

Emily Javier’s sentence reflects the seriousness of the attack and the attempted first-degree domestic violence murder charges that she faced. 

The prosecution had recommend a 20-year prison sentence for 31-year-old Javier.

Deputy Prosecutor Anna Klein stated the amount of premeditation that went into the attack was ‘huge and probably more than the court has ever seen’. 

She shared new details of Javier’s plan to kill her then-boyfriend, Alex Lovell, 30, whom she had been dating for two years.

‘This was an incredibly brutal attack,’ Klein said.

 

Emily Javier, 30, pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of her boyfriend and has been jailed for 19 years

Alex 'Biggie' Lovell, 30, is seen sitting up in a wheelchair in the hospital after being slashed with a samurai sword. He credits his survival to his training as a competitive video game player

Alex ‘Biggie’ Lovell, 30, is seen sitting up in a wheelchair in the hospital after being slashed with a samurai sword. He credits his survival to his training as a competitive video game player

The grisly attack drew national and international headlines last year, both because of Javier’s choice of weapon as well as her boyfriend’s easygoing attitude about the whole episode.

According to Klein, Lovell described Javier as an ‘extremely jealous girlfriend’ who would wake him at night to accuse him of being unfaithful even if another woman liked his photo on Facebook. 

Javier was also unhappy that Lovell wanted to be a professional video gamer, Klein told the court prior to sentencing. 

Klein said Javier researched online how to kill someone with a sword and had purchased plane tickets to take her ex-husband to Hawaii, for one last trip.

She wrote notes to him, her mother and best friend, stating her intent to die by suicide according to The Columbian.

Lovell said he takes comfort that he was able to defend himself from a 'samurai wannabe crazy lady with hate in her heart'. He shared a pic of his fingers that were almost completely cut off

Lovell said he takes comfort that he was able to defend himself from a ‘samurai wannabe crazy lady with hate in her heart’. He shared a pic of his fingers that were almost completely cut off

Javier hid the sword on her side of the bed along with a couple of knives she had taped together on the back of the headboard in case the sword failed. 

She got Lovell drunk on the night she planned to carry out the killing and waited for him to go to bed. 

Once he was asleep, she hid his cellphone so he couldn’t call for help and used her phone to illuminate his throat.

But as she attempted to slice his throat, Javier hit Lovell with the blunt end of the sword and woke him up. He then attempted to fight back. 

Lovell credited his survival against his jealous girlfriend to his training as a competitive video game player – and his passion for Kung Fu movies.  

Lovell was rushed a hospital suffering from life-threatening injuries that police said were inflicted on him by his girlfriend of two years.

Javier told police she attacked Lovell with the sword after discovering the dating app Tinder on his phone, in addition to a few other clues that suggested her boyfriend had been unfaithful to her.

At the time, the pro gamer said he was faithful to Javier, left, but had no energy to show her affection because of his gaming regimen.  Lovell maintained his sense of humor - even one day after the attack he jokingly asked for his picture of the two of them to be cropped 

At the time, the pro gamer said he was faithful to Javier, left, but had no energy to show her affection because of his gaming regimen.  Lovell maintained his sense of humor – even one day after the attack he jokingly asked for his picture of the two of them to be cropped 

Javier told how she waited for Lovell to fall asleep before carrying out her savage attack which left him seriously wounded with life-threatening injuries. Here he is pictured recovering

Javier told how she waited for Lovell to fall asleep before carrying out her savage attack which left him seriously wounded with life-threatening injuries. Here he is pictured recovering

His index, middle and ring fingers were nearly lopped off at the base, though doctors managed to reattach them.

His right foot sustained a clean cut, and his left knee suffered a laceration that required a metal plate to repair some of the bone. 

His right wrist was put in a cast. He suffered minor lacerations on his torso, a ‘decent cut’ on the left side of his head, as well as bruising on his neck. 

The affidavit states that Javier told officers, ‘I was trying to kill him for cheating. That was my purpose.’ 

In court on Monday, Javier apologized and said she feels ashamed and sick to her stomach about her actions.

‘I wish every day I could go back and change what I’ve done,’ she said.

Judge Robert Lewis noted that it was unusual to see someone go from ‘no criminal record or arrests to committing a fairly horrific act.’ 

‘Ms. Javier worked pretty hard to carry her plan out,’ Lewis said, noting that she didn’t stop until she thought she killed Alex Lovell.

Lewis handed down a 19-year sentence and ordered that Javier undergo a mental health and domestic violence evaluation and treatment. 

She will have to pay at least $30,349.22 in restitution, and she is not to have contact with Alex Lovell or his family.

Though he has faced months of recovery, Lovell has remained positive throughout.

‘I was able to wing chun my way to survival,’ he said, referring to a traditional Chinese martial art that focuses on close-range combat.

‘I’ve been preparing my whole life for something like this,’ he said to OregonLive. 

Eventually, Lovell was able to get Javier into a bear hug, but the woman still tried to grab his genitals and ‘rip them off,,’ he told BuzzFeed. 

Lovell was stabbed 26 times and underwent six major surgeries. 

He had to have 45 staples in his scalp, with more than 150 staples over his entire body. He will be in physical therapy for the rest of his life and will live with the scars forever. 

Emily Javier is pictured during a court appearance in March 2018 having slashed her boyfriend with a Samurai sword earlier on that day

Alex Lovell, 29, was left with life threatening injuries when he was attacked by his girlfriend Emily Javier, 31

Alex Lovell, 29, was left with life threatening injuries when he was attacked by his girlfriend

After hacking Lovell with the weapon all over his body and nearly lopping off several of his fingers, Javier made a frantic call to police and summoned help for him, which he says likely saved his life. 

Speaking to The Oregonian and BuzzFeed from his hospital bed at the time via social media, Lovell explained that he had a low sex drive in recent months because he was spending more than 12 hours a day playing and training for a competitive video game called PlayerUnknown’s Battleground.

‘I barely had time to hang out with my girlfriend, let alone another girl,’ he told The Oregonian.

Lovell said he was too physically exhausted to show Javier the ‘affection’ that she deserved.

But the woman apparently interpreted his lack of interest in her as a sign that he was cheating on her with another woman and hatched a plan to exact bloody revenge on Lovell.

The man claims it was his special training as an ‘Ethlete’ – a slang term for a person who plays video games professionally – and a lifetime of watching martial arts films that helped him gather his strength and eventually restrain his girlfriend, despite his severe injuries.  

In another picture, labelled ‘thankful’, Lovell appears to be surrounded by family and friends while he recovers from the multiple sword wounds

‘I saw the look in her eyes, and it scared the living poop out of me,’ he said. ‘I told her I loved her, and she was killing me. She needed to call police, or I was going to die.’

Javier heeded his pleas and dialed 911, telling an emergency dispatcher: ‘I just stabbed my boyfriend.

‘I think he’s dead. You need to hurry.’

When police arrived at their Camas, Washington, home, they found Lovell curled into a ball with multiple stab wounds and was took him to a hospital. Javier was booked into jail on a first-degree attempted murder charge. 

After her arrest, Javier told police she wanted to kill Lovell as punishment for infidelity after discovering the Tinder app on his phone, as well as strands of red hair in the shower drain.

Lovell, however, is adamant that there was no one else. He says the red hair possibly came from his reddish beard, or from his dog, and that he had not used Tinder since he and Javier got together.

Although Lovell remains in the hospital being treated for his ‘gnarly’ injuries and has a long road to recovery ahead, having nearly lost his ring, middle and index fingers, he takes comfort from the fact that he was able to defend himself.

‘I was just so proud for beating this samurai wannabe crazy lady with hate in her heart,’ he said,  

On a chilling audio of Javier’s 911 call the woman can be heard  crying hysterically and repeating ‘he’s dead’ over and over again.

The dispatcher asked Javier where she stabbed Lovell.

‘Everywhere! Everywhere!’ she replied. 

‘Where is the knife?’ the dispatcher asked, to which Javier responded that: ‘I used a sword!’

The dispatcher repeatedly asked Javier to go into the bedroom where Lovell was lying, bleeding, to check if he was still breathing and help tend his wounds.

But Javier wasn’t able to bring herself to check on him.

‘I cant go in there, I can’t go in there!’ she told the dispatcher. ‘There’s too much blood!’

Javier, who began screaming incomprehensibly and begging the 911 dispatcher to ‘please help him’ became so emotional that the dispatcher had to ask her to take a breath and keep calm before the cops and first responders arrived.

‘I need for you to try and stay calm for me,’ the dispatcher said. ‘They’re on their way as fast as they can.’  

The incident happened at the couple's home on Northeast Garfield drive in Camas, Washington,  in the early hours of Saturday morning. The street is pictured

The incident happened at the couple’s home on Northeast Garfield drive in Camas, Washington, in the early hours of Saturday morning. The street is pictured

Officers found a gruesome scene in the bedroom where blood was splattered up the walls and Lovell curled up in a ball with life threatening injuries. 

There were so many slash wounds, police can’t say for sure how many times he was cut.

Javier told police that she’d planned the attack for a week after finding Tinder on his phone.

According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by The Oregonian, other signs that he was cheating included scratches on his back and the red hair in the shower, she said. 

The woman said that after making the discoveries, she went to the mall to purchase the weapon. 

Lovell survived and his girlfriend has pleaded guilty to first degree attempted murder

Lovell survived and his girlfriend has pleaded guilty to first degree attempted murder

On Saturday, March 3, at around 9pm, he came home and ignored her, she said.

They went to bed and once the lights were out, she reached for the weapon which she had taped to her side of the bed along with two other knives. 

Javier told police she brought it down on his throat in an effort to murder him. 

‘I was trying to kill him,’ she said.  

During her police interview, she said she wanted to kill her boyfriend in his sleep and that in addition to his suspected cheating, she disliked how much he played video games. 

In the days following the attack, Lovell shared photos of himself sitting up in a wheelchair, surrounded by his friends and family.

‘Got to go on a small adventure outside today! Six days after attack and I’m able to stand and sit (with a little help). Let’s goooo!’ he wrote on Facebook.

He even joked he was getting ready to ‘drop some hot bars’ about Samurais. 

A GoFundMe campaign that has been launched to help Lovell with his medical expenses has so far drawn almost $8,500 in donations.  

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk