18-year-old arrested for stabbing Austin nurse 21 times
A disturbing journal entry helped lead to the arrest of an 18-year-old woman accused of stabbing an Austin nurse.
Pearl Moen is now facing an attempted murder charge for the November 14th incident. Moen is accused of stabbing the 24-year-old nurse 21 times early that morning.
The victim said she’s relieved to know that someone has been arrested for the crime. “It feels so nice to know that the city that I love is a safe place to me now,” she said.
Detectives were tipped off after a February 14th incident this year. According to an arrest affidavit, Moen got into a fight with her mother and the police were called. Moen's mother told them her daughter matched the description of the stabbing suspect and Moen's then-boyfriend said the teenager told him she had killed someone. Police searched her house, and found the teenager’s journal, which revealed some disturbing information.
This is an excerpt from the journal in part:
According to the victim, she said she was with her friend sitting on the curb in Hyde Park. He went inside for a moment. She said she closed her eyes, and that's when Moen started stabbing her.
“They came with the intent and they just wanted to harm someone, and I just so happen to be the most unlucky person on that November morning,” she said.
According to the journal entries Moen tried to explain why and said "I'm a homicidal psychopath, I have a deep hatred towards people right now."
Fortunately, the victim survived, and she said she has had a long road to recovery. But, she recently found out she'll be able to continue her work as a labor and delivery nurse.
“It's very liberating to say I am not only a victim, but I am a survivor of the situation,” she said.
Moen does have a previous record of violence. She was sentenced last May for Assault with Injury for a fight with her mother.
She was required to go to counseling which ended just about two weeks before the stabbing incident.
Pearl Moen has been charged with Attempted Murder, a 2nd Degree Felony. According to police on the morning of November 14th, 2015 Moen stabbed a Hyde Park woman 21 times while she slept.
The victim, a 24-year-old Austin nurse, was with a male friend on Nov. 14 when the two decided to sit out on the curb on the 4400 block of Speedway and enjoy the morning. Her friend stepped back inside his apartment for a minute and the young woman drifted off to sleep while still outside. According to police she awoke with Moen stabbing her multiple times.
Moen fled from the scene on foot. While investigators were processing the crime scene a gold ring covered in blood was found on the sidewalk.
According to the arrest affidavit…
On February 14th, 2016 Moen was involved in a domestic disturbance with her mother. Sara and her boyfriend at that time told the responding officers that they had seen a flyer posted about the stabbing and said the description of the stabbing suspect matched Pearl. They told the responding officer that Pearl owns many knifes and had joked about the stabbing.
The next day police had a phone interview with Pearl’s boyfriend at the time of the stabbing, November 14th, 2015. Authorities made it clear that this boyfriend was not the one who was at the scene of the domestic disturbance on February, 14th. The previous boyfriend said that around mid-Novemeber Pearl told him that she had killed someone.
On February 27, 2016 police conducted an interview with Pearl’s mother. During the interview she said that Pearl has had several violent outbursts, including the February 14th incident in which she pulled a knife on her. Moen’s mother told police that Pearl has several journals in which she has expressed violent thoughts about stabbing people and in one specific entry she said she stabbed a person multiple times.
On February 28th a search warrant was executed at Pearl’s residence and she was taken into custody and has been charged with Attempted Murder. Her bond has been set at $1,000,000.