One person charged, another released following domestic incident in Kellogg

WALLACE – A Kellogg woman has been charged with aggravated battery with traumatic injury following a strange incident last Friday night.  

Christina Axtman, 44, was arrested just before midnight after Kellogg Police responded to a reported physical altercation in progress at a residence in Kellogg. According to the probable cause affidavit (PCA), KPD officer Dameon Groves arrived at the home where he took Timothy True, one of the home’s occupants and Axtman’s fiancé, into custody and interviewed him about the incident.  

True detailed his account of the altercation, which was reported in the PCA, where he alleged that the altercation began after both he and Axtman had been drinking and escalated from verbal to physical after Axtman reportedly began making suicidal comments and attempted to access to the contents within the couple’s gun safe. According to True, he grabbed Axtman by the arms and then pinned her against the ground to prevent her from accessing the safe.  

During his interview with True, Officer Groves documented seeing several wounds on True’s head and neck that True explained as scratches he sustained while restraining Axtman.  

Groves then proceeded to interview Axtman, who gave several different accounts of the evening’s events. He reported observing bruises on Axtman’s arms, consistent with True’s account of the incident, but Axtman claimed that much more had taken place. Including allegedly telling Groves that True had thrown an ax at her, punched her several times, attempted to stab her, choked her, and stabbed her in the neck with a needle.  

However, during Groves’ investigation, there was no evidence to support any of these claims. Groves also added within the PCA that, based upon Axtman’s statements, True would’ve had to have been wielding all the alleged weapons simultaneously.  

According to the report from Groves, True bargained with Axtman during their struggle that he would let her up if she promised not to go toward the gun safe. Axtman agreed, but then began breaking wine glasses in their kitchen. In his report, Groves did state that he found a large quantity of broken glass on the kitchen floor.  

Axtman’s adult son made the initial call to law enforcement and was at the residence for part of the incident and told Groves that he hadn’t seen anything violent happen between Axtman and True while he was there. However, the son did say that his mother had struck him after he reportedly told her to “act her age.” He then struck her back after Axtman allegedly referred to his girlfriend as a c***, and then subsequently left the residence before returning after law enforcement arrived.  

Both True and Axtman were arrested for aggravated battery, but due to the nature of the incident, the Shoshone County Prosecutor’s Office decided not to pursue any charges against True.  

Axtman was charged with aggravated battery with traumatic injury during her first appearance in court on Monday. If convicted, she faces up to 10 years in prison. 

Axtman’s bail was set at $2,500.