911 Calls Show Daughter Phoned Police After Stabbing Parents

PORT HURON, Mich. (AP) — The 911 calls released Wednesday in the double stabbing of a Michigan couple detail the frantic aftermath of the attack, which their daughter, her boyfriend and another teen are accused of carrying out.

Tia Skinner, now 18, faces murder, assault and conspiracy charges in the Nov. 12 slaying of her adoptive father, Paul Skinner, and stabbing of her mother Mara in Yale, about 85 miles northeast of Detroit.

"I stayed in the basement and my brother ran upstairs. I heard something loud and I told him to go help, because I heard screaming," Tia Skinner said in one of the 911 calls released to The Associated Press by St. Clair County authorities following a Freedom of Information Act request.

"We're bleeding really bad," Mara Skinner, who was repeatedly stabbed, said earlier on the same call. Shortly afterward, her son Jeff took the phone from her.

"Somebody came in and stabbed my mom," said the son, who works as a nurse and was trying to aid his parents. "Stabbed my mom and dad."

Paul Skinner could be heard in the background saying he couldn't breathe. Jeff Skinner passed the phone to his sister.

"Nobody saw them," Tia Skinner said of the attackers.

But authorities believe not only did the teen know who committed the crime, but that she was behind it. They say she helped plan the attack with her boyfriend Jonathan Kurtz, now 19, and James Preston, 18, who is Kurtz's neighbor.

Kurtz and Preston also have been charged with murder, assault and conspiracy.

Tia Skinner's defense attorney, John Livesay, said he had heard the 911 calls and that "they speak for themselves." He declined further comment on the calls and the case in general, saying: "I think it's appropriate that people be tried in the courts."

Mara Skinner and Jeff Skinner both testified last month about the stabbings before a judge found enough evidence to warrant a trial for Tia Skinner, Kurtz and Preston. All three waived arraignments scheduled for Monday in St. Clair County Circuit Court, and remain in custody. Pretrial conferences were expected Jan. 10.

Investigators say they were led to the suspects in part by glaring evidence: a hand-drawn map found outside the scene of the violent home invasion with the words "my house" scrawled on it. A prosecutor has said Tia Skinner was angry at her parents for forbidding her to see Kurtz and for grounding her and confiscating her cell phone after finding texts from him declaring his love for her.