Fisk man stabbed, girlfriend arrested

An apparent domestic dispute early Tuesday morning between a Fisk couple left one with multiple stabs wounds and his girlfriend in jail.

Butler County deputies were called to a home in the 500 block of Fourth Street at about 2:45 a.m. regarding a report of a man “being covered in blood, acting erratic and screaming” for an ambulance to be called, Deputy Austin Dunlap wrote in his report.

Dunlap found the man, later identified as David Allen Lovell, 58, laying on the front porch covered in blood as numerous subjects attempted to provide first aid.

“ … I observed a laceration on the triceps region of his left arm,” Dunlap said. “I also observed a laceration on his left forearm, just above his wrist,” as well as a “large amount of blood on his face and blood oozing from his left ear.”

After emergency-medical-services personnel arrived and began treating Lovell, Dunlap said, he saw an additional laceration on Lovell’s left leg just below his abdominal area.

When asked who had stabbed him, Dunlap said, Lovell replied, “‘the woman,’” who later was identified as Nakiesha Lotain Irving, 31.

Dunlap said he spoke with Lovell’s brother, who reported he was asleep when he heard his brother yelling his name and that he was bleeding.

“(The brother) advised he got up and walked into the living room, where he observed D. Lovell sitting on the couch covered in blood, with blood surrounding him on the floor and couch,” Dunlap said.

Lovell reportedly told his brother Irving had stabbed him, but “did not want law enforcement to be called to the scene because he did not want N. Irving to get into trouble due to them having a romantic relationship.”

Lovell reportedly walked around inside the residence and in and out of the residence several times before collapsing on the front porch.

Lovell was taken to Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center for treatment. His condition is not known at this time.

While on the scene, Dunlap said, two neighbors reported hearing screaming from Lovell’s residence and “assumed D. Lovell was intoxicated and involved in a verbal argument with his girlfriend, N. Irving” and hearing Lovell say Irving had stabbed him.

One of the neighbors, Scottie Lindsay, according to Dunlap, further reported seeing a “female subject whom he was positive” was Irving “running away from the residence and down the street away from the scene.”

Lindsay, Dunlap said, reported he called Irving to ask what was going on, but was told by the woman “she was not at the residence and did not know what he was talking about.”

Irving, according to Lindsay, asked whether “her friend was OK” since “she heard he was badly hurt and wanted to make sure he was OK.”

Deputy Matt Cagle subsequently contacted Irving at a Lowrey Street residence, and she was told of her rights and interviewed.

Irving, according to Investigator Randle Huddleston’s report, went to Lovell’s residence at about 10 p.m. to visit and left around 11 p.m. to return home.

“N. Irving stated that the evening went well, and she went home and later heard from a neighbor that D. Lovell had been taken to the hospital,” Huddleston said.

Irving, he said, denied knowing how Lovell suffered his injuries.

“After a few moments of N. Irving claiming ignorance of any harm coming to D. Lovell, she then recanted her story and stated she and D. Lovell had been drinking a little bit, and he had gotten upset when she told him she was leaving to go home,” Huddleston said.

Irving, he said, alleged a “short physical altercation” ensued during which Lovell “struck her multiple time with a closed fist to several areas of her body, at which time she defended herself by hitting and kicking D. Lovell before grabbing her purse and running out the door.”

Irving denied stabbing and cutting Lovell during the alleged altercation.

Irving was booked at the Butler County jail on suspicion of first-degree domestic assault and unlawful use of a weapon.

Huddleston said he also contacted Lovell at the hospital.

Lovell, he said, reported he loved Irving, calling her “his girl. He stated she had been at his house most of the day of June 29, 2020, and during the early morning hours of June 30, 2020, they became involved in an argument about her going back to her house.”

At some point, Lovell reported Irving allegedly began stabbing him with an unknown object.

“He stated he did not hit her or strike her in any way and did not wish to pursue charges against her,” Huddleston said.