Mobile Police Search for Man Accused of Stabbing, Strangling Girlfriend

Mobile Police are searching for a man accused of stabbing and strangling his girlfriend early on the morning of Oct. 13 inside the home the two shared, according to a department release.

Officers were called to University Hospital around 1 a.m. after the woman arrived there with stab wounds. She had gotten herself to the hospital after escaping the attack, a detail investigators said was central to how the case unfolded — the victim was not found by police at the scene, but made her own way to emergency care before officers ever became involved.

Hospital staff contacted police, as medical facilities in Alabama are required to do for certain injuries, and detectives responding to the emergency room quickly pieced together what the woman had been through. Investigators determined the boyfriend had stabbed her multiple times and strangled her during the assault, and that he prevented her from leaving their house while the attack was underway.

The woman’s escape — getting out of the home and reaching the hospital on her own — likely saved her life. By the time detectives went to the residence, the suspect was gone. He had not been located as of the latest update, and police said the investigation remains active.

How the Case Came to Light

Domestic violence cases often surface in emergency rooms rather than through 911 calls from the home. Victims who live with their abusers frequently have no safe moment to call for help during an assault, and many delay seeking treatment until the attacker leaves or falls asleep. When a victim arrives at a hospital with injuries consistent with a serious assault, medical staff stabilize her first and then involve law enforcement, which is how officers were summoned to University Hospital in the early hours that morning.

University Hospital, now part of the USA Health system, serves as one of the region’s primary trauma centers, and its emergency department sees victims of serious violence from across Mobile County. Detectives from MPD’s domestic violence and major crime units routinely respond to the hospital for cases of this kind, where the first hours are devoted to the victim’s account, her medical condition and the immediate steps needed to locate the suspect.

Police did not release the suspect’s name in the initial account of the case, a decision that keeps details limited while the search proceeds. Charges in cases like this typically include second-degree assault and domestic violence by strangulation, both felonies under Alabama law, and prosecutors can add charges based on what the investigation develops.

Why Strangulation Changes the Case

Alabama, like most states, treats strangulation in a domestic relationship as a distinct and serious offense rather than an aggravating factor tacked onto an assault charge. The reason is medical: victims who survive strangulation can die hours or days later from internal injuries, airway swelling or blood clots, sometimes with no outward sign of how badly they were hurt. Research on domestic violence has consistently identified strangulation as one of the strongest warning signs that an abuser may eventually kill his partner.

That is why strangulation cases are handled differently from the first report. Victims are urged to seek medical evaluation even when they feel relatively unharmed, because injuries to the neck’s soft tissue, blood vessels and airway are not always immediately symptomatic. Advocates and prosecutors in Mobile County have worked for years to train officers and hospital staff to recognize strangulation indicators, document them carefully and connect victims with follow-up care.

The added element in this case — the suspect preventing the victim from leaving the house during the attack — is also significant under Alabama law, which allows false imprisonment charges when a person is restrained against their will. Together, the allegations describe an assault that was not a sudden fight but an effort to trap and seriously injure the victim inside her own home.

The Search Continues

With the suspect not in custody, detectives are working the standard leads in a case like this: addresses where he may stay, relatives and acquaintances who might be contacted, vehicles associated with him and any electronic trails that place him after the attack. Warrants are typically obtained early so that the arrest can proceed the moment he is found, and the case remains open and active regardless of how long the search takes.

Police emphasized that the victim escaped the attack and reached safety, but officials did not release details about her current condition beyond the fact that she arrived with stab wounds and survived to give investigators an account. Her identity is protected, as is standard in domestic violence cases, both by department practice and by the sensitivities that come with crimes between people who share a home.

Anyone with information about the suspect’s whereabouts is encouraged to contact Mobile Police. Callers can reach investigators directly through the department’s non-emergency line, and those who wish to remain anonymous can pass tips through area crime-stopper channels, which allow rewards for information that leads to an arrest without requiring a name.

Help for Victims in Mobile County

Advocates stress that the events described in the police release follow a pattern that unfolds in homes across the county every day, and that help is available before an assault reaches this level of violence. Penelope House, Mobile’s domestic violence shelter, operates a 24-hour crisis line and provides emergency housing, safety planning, court advocacy and support groups for victims and their children. The Family Justice Center model brings prosecutors, counselors and advocates under shared arrangements so victims can navigate protective orders and criminal cases without being shuttled between offices.

Alabama’s protective order process allows a victim to petition a court to order an abuser away from a shared home, even when the home is leased or owned by the abuser, and judges can issue emergency orders in the days before a full hearing. Victims who call a crisis line are walked through the options — shelter, orders, relocation assistance, changes to work and school routines — without any obligation to press charges first.

Police and advocates alike urge victims of strangulation to go to an emergency room promptly, even if the assault happened days earlier, and to preserve evidence: photographs of injuries, damaged clothing, text messages and the names of anyone who saw bruising in the aftermath. In cases like the one Mobile Police are now working, those details form the record that prosecutors will carry into court once the suspect is found.

A Pattern Officers Know Well

Domestic violence investigators in Mobile handle thousands of cases in a given year, and the sequence described in this case — escalating violence inside a shared home, an assault that combines stabbing with strangulation, an escape under the abuser’s control — matches the pattern that officers are trained to recognize as high risk. Risk assessment tools used by police departments and shelters weigh factors such as strangulation history, access to weapons, threats to kill, jealousy and separation, and cases that score high receive follow-up that ordinary assault reports do not.

The early morning hour matters in how these cases develop. Assaults that begin late at night in a shared home leave few witnesses, and the first person outside the relationship to see the victim is often a nurse. That is why hospital-based response has become such an important part of the regional safety net: forensic nurses document injuries, collect evidence and testify in ways that hold up in court, and their work frequently makes the difference in cases where the only scene left behind is a wound that will heal.

Mobile Police have historically partnered with county and state agencies on domestic violence enforcement, including coordinated warrant sweeps aimed at suspects wanted in DV cases and follow-up checks on the highest-risk victims after an arrest. Officials have repeatedly emphasized that the department treats failures-to-appear and bond violations in domestic cases as priorities, because the period right after an assault is when victims face the greatest danger.

What Neighbors and Family Members Can Do

Advocates use cases like this one to remind the public that the people closest to a victim are often the first to see the warning signs and the last to know how dangerous things have become. Family members who notice injuries explained away with unlikely stories, a partner who controls phone access, or a friend who has stopped answering messages are encouraged to stay in contact, offer a specific and repeated invitation to talk, and keep the number of the crisis line handy without pressure.

Direct confrontation with an abuser is discouraged, since it can escalate danger for the victim. Instead, safety experts suggest helping quietly: offering a place to store documents or a packed bag, providing a ride without announcing it in advance, and letting the victim set the pace. When someone is ready to leave, the most dangerous window is the departure itself, which is why shelters and advocates put such weight on planning rather than impulse.

In the immediate case, Mobile Police are asking anyone who knows the suspect or his movements to come forward rather than wait. Investigators noted the case remains active, and updates — including the suspect’s identity once it can be released safely and any arrest announcement — are expected as the search proceeds.