Suspect in hate crime stabbing of Indiana University student set to appear in court
Written by ABC Audio. All rights reserved. on January 25, 2023
(BLOOMINGTON, Ind.) — A white woman charged with stabbing an Asian Indiana University student seven times in the head on a public bus in Bloomington, Indiana, had been scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday.
The suspect, Billie R. Davis, who has been jailed on $100,000 bail since her arrest, had a bond hearing scheduled for Wednesday at the Monroe County Circuit Court in Bloomington, according to court records. The hearing was canceled, and it was not immediately clear if it had been rescheduled.
Police have described the attack as unprovoked and racially motivated.
Davis, who also goes by the name Billie R. Pottorff, has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder, aggravated battery and battery by means of a deadly weapon.
She was charged after allegedly confessing to repeatedly stabbing the 18-year-old student with a folding knife in front of passengers on a Bloomington Transit bus on Jan. 11, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case.
Davis purportedly told investigators she targeted the student because she assumed her to be Chinese and “made statements that race was a factor in why she stabbed her,” according to the affidavit.
“Davis made a statement that it would be one less person to blow up our county,” the affidavit reads.
Video surveillance footage from the bus reviewed by investigators shows Davis allegedly coming up behind the victim and appears “to turn for a better position while clutching the knife” before stabbing the student without warning.
“Davis then folds the knife, puts it back in her pocket, and returns to her seated position on the bus. Davis doesn’t appear to acknowledge (the victim) after stabbing her or have any other contact,” the affidavit alleges.
Prior to the attack, the suspect and the victim had “no prior confrontation or negative interactions,” the affidavit said. The student, according to police, told investigators she was standing and waiting for the bus doors to open when she was assaulted.
Davis, according to the affidavit, exited the bus at the next stop. She was taken into custody after a passenger who witnessed the assault followed her on foot and reported her location to police, authorities said.
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