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Man jailed after alleged stabbing in Aspen

Rick Carroll
The Aspen Times
Aspen CO Colorado

ASPEN – Aspen police arrested a transient early Monday morning on accusations that he stabbed a woman at the Truscott Place apartment complex.

Marc Altman, 48, is expected to be advised Tuesday on a series of felony offenses that include second-degree assault.

According to Aspen Police Department spokeswoman Blair Weyer, authorities received a call at approximately 5 a.m. that a potential stabbing had taken place.



“The caller reported learning of the potential stabbing when Altman contacted her looking for a place to stay that morning,” Weyer wrote in an email to The Aspen Times.

When police arrived at Truscott, they found Altman “sleeping in a nearby area,” Weyer wrote. He was taken to Aspen Valley Hospital and later to the Pitkin County Jail. Aspen Police Officer Peter Bauer, with the assistance of Pitkin County Deputy Levi Borst, made the arrest.




In a telephone interview Monday, alleged victim Terry Lynn Decker played down what happened.

“I’m good. I just got a scratch, that’s it,” Decker said. “I don’t want to make a big deal out of it.”

Decker said there was “no argument” with Altman and that she was not stabbed. She said she had been hospitalized but is OK and was well enough to take care of one of her grandchildren at the time she was called.

“Upon arriving on scene, Aspen police officers contacted the victim, who was evaluated and transported to Aspen Valley Hospital via ambulance,” Weyer said.

Citing patient-confidentiality laws, Weyer said she could not provide details on Decker’s condition.

More details are expected Tuesday at Altman’s advisement hearing, tentatively set for 11 a.m. in Pitkin County District Court. An affidavit for the warrantless arrest of Altman also will be made public today, said Arnold Mordkin, chief deputy district attorney. Misdemeanor counts of trespassing also are pending against Altman, and other charges could be forthcoming, Mordkin said. He declined to provide specifics.

The alleged stabbing wasn’t the first time Decker and Altman have been accused of being involved with domestic run-ins, court records show.

In April, Decker, 62, was jailed on suspicion of striking Altman, her ex-boyfriend at the time, in the head with a hammer. And like Monday’s alleged incident, the episode took place at Truscott, an affordable-housing complex located between the roundabout and Aspen-Pitkin County Airport off Highway 82 and managed by the Aspen-Pitkin County Housing Authority.

In the April incident, Decker called law enforcement officials to report that a man was knocking on her door, according to an affidavit.

When police arrived, they spotted Altman standing under the carport next to Decker’s unit, his head bloodied.

“Altman told Officer (Jeff) Fain and I that Decker had hit him in the head with a hammer,” Officer Adam Loudon wrote in an affidavit for a warrantless arrest. “I observed the top of Altman’s head and saw a circular-shaped laceration that was freshly bleeding.”

Loudon then spoke to Decker, who admitted that she used the hammer on Altman’s head, the affidavit said. Soon after, Loudon found a wooden-handled hammer in a sink at Decker’s apartment, according to the affidavit.

“I asked Decker what happened, and she told me that Altman took her phones,” Loudon wrote.

In that case, Decker is charged with second-degree assault with a deadly weapon. She is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 17.

Additionally, on March 27, Altman was arrested on suspicion of trespassing at Decker’s storage space at Truscott, according to police.

Altman currently is in custody at the Pitkin County Jail.

rcarroll@aspentimes.com

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