COMMERCE CITY - Monica Trujillo's face is permanently disfigured after getting stabbed in the face while the woman accused of attacking her faces an attempted-murder charge.
"Every time I look in the mirror, every morning, that scar is going to be there and that memory of what she did to me is going to be there," a tearful Trujillo told 9Wants to Know.
District court records obtained by 9Wants to Know say the incident happened Aug. 16 near the intersection of Ash Street and East 68th Avenue in Commerce City.
The court documents describe Trujillo's account, in which she claims she was honked at while pulling out of her driveway. Trujillo admits words were exchanged between people in the other car and that she stood up to a woman who eventually got out of the passenger seat.
"We were standing in front of each other's face," Trujillo said, claiming she was then hit in the face.
While it felt like a punch, Trujillo says she later learned she was stabbed.
"When I went to touch my face, my entire hand went inside my face, and that's when I tried to hold it together because my son was still standing right next to me," she said.
Trujillo says doctors gave her nine stitches under her skin to repair damaged muscle tissue and another 40 stitches to close the wound.
The arrest warrant affidavit says the attacking woman, 21-year-old Karyn Roth, admitted to stabbing Trujillo while trying to intimidate her.
Roth is currently behind bars in the Adams County Detention Center, charged with attempted first-degree murder. She and her defense attorney declined to comment about the incident.
A background check conducted by 9Wants to Know investigators didn't not reveal a major criminal history for Roth. Her next court date is set for next month.
Trujillo says she has been living in hotels with her family, saying she is too scared to go home because the suspect's family lives on the same street.
"No one believes that they're going to pull out of their driveway one morning to take their kids to school and then to have their face be maimed for the rest of their life," Trujillo said.
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