SPRINGFIELD, MO. (KTRE) -
Strafford, Mo. Police officers arrested
a suspect Wednesday afternoon in connection to an altercation at a storage
building facility that left a former Lufkin man hospitalized with four stab
wounds after he tried to save his 15-year-old son from a thief.
According to Chief Justhan
Webster of the Strafford Police Department, Jimmy Alsup, 33, is still being
held in the Greene County, Mo. Jail on felony charges of assault, burglary,
theft, and tampering with a motor vehicle. His bond has been set at $75,000.
Webster said that officers from
his department have been looking for Alsup since Monday night's incident. Alsup,
who has had numerous past run-ins with the law, contacted his parole officer
and said that he was probably the man police were looking for in regard to the
stabbing.
The stabbing victim, Gregory A.
Baker, 44, is still recovering from his wounds at a Springfield, Mo. hospital. His
wife, Kimberly Copus Baker, said they were about 15 minutes from leaving
Missouri and heading back to Texas when the assault occurred.
"He didn't just hurt my family by
stabbing my husband," Kimberly Baker said. "He left us homeless, and my son is
still shaken up over this."
In a previous interview, the
victim's wife said they had already moved out of their Strafford, Mo. home when
the assault took place. They had found a home in Lufkin, and Gregory Baker was
about to start working as an electrician in Corpus Christi.
Now, for all intents and
purposes, the family is homeless. Kimberly Baker said that her children are
staying with her brother-in-law. However, she is staying at her husband's side
at the hospital, adding that she sleeps in a chair in his room.
Gregory Baker is still in a great
deal of pain and on oxygen, his wife said. After the stabbing, he underwent
emergency surgery to repair damage to his spleen and colon. Even though he is
expected to make a full recovery and doctors have said he could be released in
three or four days, Kimberly Baker said he still won't be in any condition to
make the trip to Lufkin.
"I have no idea what we're going
to do," Kimberly Baker said. We're taking things day to day. First, we need to
figure out how to get Greg well enough to leave Missouri."
When the family moved to Missouri
about a year, they would have never expected something like this to happen, the
wife said. Kimberly Baker said that Strafford is a quiet, small town that is
about half the size of Hudson.
Former Lufkin resident Gregory A.
Baker, 44, and his son were getting a deep freeze unit out of a storage unit in
Strafford, Mo. when he noticed something wrong. His wife, Kimberly Copus Baker,
said that he noticed that storage unit's lock was cut, and that items were
missing from the truck.
When Gregory Baker went to the
front of his truck to take the keys out of the ignition, he saw a man grab
Baker's son. He yelled at the knife-wielding man, who started backing away with
the son.
After pushing his son out of the
way, Gregory Baker started fighting with the man. Kimberly Baker said the man
stabbed her husband four times, rupturing his colon and spleen. However,
Gregory baker did not notice he had been stabbed until after the struggle. He
drove his son home, and was taken by ambulance to the hospital.
The suspect ran away from the
storage units, the wife said.
He saved our son," Kimberly Baker
said. "He's a hero."
Gregory Baker lived in Lufkin all
of his life before they moved to Missouri. Their son attended Hudson ISD.
Copyright 2012 KTRE. All rights reserved.
Jimmy Alsup (Source: Green County Jail)
Gregory Baker (Source: Kimberly Baker)
