Patricia Crowl Allegedly Stabbed Her Boyfriend's Ex 18 Times

Nov. 25, 2009 — -- A woman once convicted of killing her lover's mate is accused of striking again, this time stabbing her current boyfriend's ex as many as 18 times and then leaving her to die.

Patricia Crowl, 55, is facing an attempted first degree murder charge after she allegedly lured Jamie Checkos to a vacant Seattle parking lot and then brutally attacked her last week.

Checkos is the former lover of Crowl's boyfriend Leonard Jackson.

When investigators began looking in the suspect's background what they found astonished them. Crowl had been convicted of a "remarkably similar" crime in 1997.

Crowl pleaded guilty to charges of murder in the second degree after she beat her then-boyfriend's girlfriend, Shawn Beatrice Wallace, to death. According to court documents, she admitted to "hitting the victim over the head with a wrench, strangling her to death, and then disposing the body."

According to The Associated Press, Crowl hid Wallace's body under her house and then dumped it in a ravine.

Crowl served nine of her 13 year sentence and was released from prison in 2006.

Last week, Crowl used her current boyfriend's cell phone to dupe his ex girlfriend into believing they were making plans to meet.

According to court documents, Checkos believed she was corresponding with Jackson via text messages when really Crowl was the one sending her messages. On Nov. 12, Crowl, posing as Jackson, asked Checkos to meet her at a parking lot.

Checkos had broken up recently with Jackson after dating for three years, her sister told investigators.

When Checkos arrived and found only Crowl there, she left, refusing to open her car door to Crowl, whom she says in court documents she had never met before.

But the next day, still texting with who she thought was Jackson, Checkos again agreed to meet at a parking lot. When she arrived, Checkos received a text message from Jackson's number saying that he was at the lot, but was looking for his dog that had gotten off his leash.

As Checkos got out of her car and went to find Jackson and the dog, Crowl allegedly attacked her from behind.

Murder Suspect Held on $3 Million Bail

"Crowl ran at her with a knife and began stabbing her multiple times," Checkos told investigators. Checkos said she "thought she was going to die" when she "heard the blood coming out of the two stab wounds on her neck."

After allegedly stabbing Checkos in the neck, head, throat and abdomen ? even puncturing a vital organ ? she left her alone in the parking lot to die, according to court documents.

In a phone call to 911, Checkos pleaded, "help me, help me," and told the dispatcher she was "stabbed everywhere." Checkos was rushed to a nearby hospital in critical condition and was later released.

Checkos' father, Jim Checkos, says that his daughter was taken back to the hospital today because some of her wounds are not healing properly.

"My feeling is that had the state really done its job properly, my daughter would never have been hurt," Jim Checkos told ABCNews.com.

"I see no reason for a person who has committed that type of crime to be released into society without ongoing supervision," he said.

According to Jim Checkos, Jackson has visited his daughter several times since her injuries but added that he is still wary of Jackson.

"An individual has to learn about the people he surrounds himself with," Jim Checkos said of Jackson. "He didn't do that too well."

"I realize it is not his fault but I do hold Jackson somewhat responsible," he said.

In the hours following the alleged stabbing, Jackson told investigators that he saw Crowl driving. When they pulled up next to each other, Crowl told Jackson, "I need to turn myself into police, I have to go."

Crowl was later arrested at a hospital when she sought treatement for cuts on her hand that court documents indicate appear to be from a knife. It was not immediately clear who is representing Crowl in court.

She is being held on $3 million bail after a Seattle judge granted Senior Deputy Prosecutor Gary Ernsdorff's request that the bail be increased from $1 million.

Messages left at Checkos' home were not immediately returned.