A 24-year-old Washington man has been accused of stabbing a Libby man who was walking on a wooded trail north of town on Nov. 11.
Michael Anthony Borchardt-Robertson pleaded not guilty to attempted deliberate homicide on Nov. 26 in Lincoln County District Court in Libby. If convicted he could spend up to 100 years in prison.
According to court records, Douglas Crum was walking on a path near Kootenai River Road when Borchardt-Robertson attacked him with a knife, stabbing him multiple times in the abdomen and puncturing a lung. Crum sprayed the man with bear spray, then returned to his car and drove home where his wife then drove him to the hospital.
Officers from the Libby Police Department and Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office met Crum at Cabinet Peaks Medical Center. The victim told the officers what had happened and said his attacker was still in the woods. While Crum was airlifted to Kalispell Regional Healthcare, officers went to the path along Kootenai River Road.
About a half-mile down the path, officers found Borchardt-Robertson coming out of the woods. Borchardt-Robertson told officers that he had seen an altercation and that there were two other men in the woods armed with a knife and bear spray. While officers spoke to Borchardt-Robertson they noticed that he had been sprayed with bear spray.
Two Bear Air from Kalispell and a local search team were dispatched to the scene to try and find the two men Borchardt-Robertson said were in the woods. However, the search was called off after no one else was found. Borchardt-Robertson was taken to the Lincoln County Detention Center. The following day, Crum identified Borchardt-Robertson as his attacker in a photo lineup.
Borchardt-Robertson is expected to stand trial in 2019.