Suspect in 2004 stabbing held in county jail

An Oklahoma woman wanted for allegedly stabbing a man near the Blankenship Bridge in the summer of 2004 is being held in the Flathead County Detention Center with bail set at $25,000.

Tara Desiree Harmon, 44, faces a felony assault with a weapon charge in Flathead County District Court first filed in August 2004. She is expected to appear before Judge Robert Allison on March 14 for her arraignment. 

Harmon was one of possibly two people to stab a man cooking at a campfire near the bridge on July 24, 2004, court documents said. The attack came after Harmon and the victim’s father got into an argument. 

Interviewed by investigators at an area hospital, the victim recounted Harmon screaming at him after he intervened in the confrontation. While cooking dinner, the victim said he felt a stab on the left side of his back.

Although unsure of who stabbed him, the victim said he saw a man, known only as Bubba, running to a truck. After attempting to pull the man out of the truck, the victim went back to the campfire, court documents said. 

That’s when Harmon allegedly emerged from nearby bushes and stabbed him in his right lower back.

Prosecutors noted in the charging documents that the victim suffered two deep cuts to his back near his kidneys. 

Both Harmon and the man known as Bubba were thought to be homeless, court documents said. The pair came from Oklahoma, and Harmon boasted outstanding warrants in Illinois and Florida at the time, according to court documents. 

Her criminal history, as of 2004, included battery, resisting arrests, escape, larceny, burglaries, battery on a firefighter, fraud, grand theft, obstructing a police officer, domestic assault and failure to appear, according to documents filed in district court.

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or dperkins@dailyinterlake.com.