BATON ROUGE, La.-
A Texas man accused of repeatedly stabbing his toddler and ex-wife along an interstate while horrified motorists looked on in rush-hour traffic had just been divorced from the woman earlier in the day, authorities said Saturday.
Jimmie Darnell Dixon, 27, of Dallas, was arrested and faces two counts each of attempted first-degree murder and second-degree kidnapping, among other offenses, authorities said. He was in jail Saturday, and no bond had been set.
The woman and the 2-year-old girl, neither of whom were publicly identified by authorities, were in serious condition Saturday at Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center, said Capt. Jeff Smith, a police spokesman.
Smith said the couple had been divorced earlier in the day in Baton Rouge. Earlier police reports had described the couple as estranged.
The girl and her mother had been abducted Friday from a relative’s residence in Baton Rouge when Dixon began stabbing the woman with a kitchen knife as they drove along Interstate 110 near the Governor’s Mansion, police said.
When the 26-year-old woman got out and ran to get help from an East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff’s deputy who was in a squad car just ahead of them, Dixon stabbed his daughter, authorities said.
Dixon put the girl on the highway and drove off, sideswiping the deputy’s car and striking his wife, police said. His vehicle crashed later in downtown Baton Rouge.
Authorities said the child had the knife lodged in her head. Her mother, who was thrown 20 to 40 feet by the impact of the car, also had numerous stab wounds, police said.
No attorney information for Dixon was available Saturday.
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