Hatfield Man Faces Attempted Murder Charge at Trial for Alleged Throat Slashing

A Hatfield man in county prison on $1 million bail waived an attempted murder charge to Montgomery County court Friday morning in Souderton.

Thomas Troy Young, 49, of Hatfield, also waived two charges of felony aggravated assault, two counts of simple assault, reckless endangerment, two counts of possessing an instrument of crime and terroristic threats at the preliminary hearing.

The hearing in Souderton District Court was presided over by Lansdale District Court Judge Harold Borek.

Young will be arraigned in county court on May 22.

Represented by attorney Tim Woodward, Young had more charges added by police on April 11.

Representatives from the Domestic Abuse Response Team at Laurel House were present at the hearing: Stacy Sweinhart and Ashley Thompson.

Laurel House is a local nonprofit that helps domestic violence victims and their children.

It was a post on Facebook that allegedly set off Young late in the evening of March 9 at a home on the 300 block of Wheatfield Circle in Hatfield. 

According to the court affidavit, Young allegedly cut the throat and body of the alleged victim, choked her with a plastic warmup shirt, and left her to die at the base of her toilet in her upstairs bathroom.

At the time of the incident, two of the woman's daughters were home, as was her brother, according to the court affidavit.

When police and emergency services arrived to the home at 12:30 a.m. March 10, the alleged victim, 33, was lying in a pool of blood on the the floor of her master bathroom, according to police. She was on and around a pile of laundry, and next to a blood-soaked towel, police said.

She had cuts and multiple stab wounds to her neck, face and body, according to the affidavit.

The woman told police that Young did it to her, according to the complaint.

Police said Young became enraged over a Facebook post that the woman Liked, which was posted by someone else.

According to the affidavit, Young allegedly grabbed her and told her he had "five knives" and he would use all of them on her.

Young allegedly attempted to strangle the woman with a warmup shirt around her neck, police said. While he was allegedly strangling her, Young allegedly said "he was going to jail for a longtime anyway," according to the complaint.

As she was being allegedly strangled, the woman was kicking her feet on the floor, trying to get the attention of the people downstairs, police said.

Young allegedly said, "Stop f---ing kicking and go to sleep!" according to the complaint.

He also allegedly told the woman that if the children came to the door, he would kill them because if he was going to jail for one murder, it didn't matter to him if it was three or more, according to the affidavit.

The woman suffered stab wounds to her face, neck, back, hand and lung, according to the report.

The woman was flown by PennStar helicopter to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, police said.

Police interviewed the woman's daughter at 3:40 a.m. March 10. She told police she heard Young and the woman arguing in an upstairs bedroom, according to the complaint. The woman was saying, "I love you! I love you!" to Young, according to the report.

Troy then came down to the first floor and said he had to take his daughter home. They both left, according to police.

The daughter then went upstairs, where she heard the woman yelling out for help, according to the affidavit. The door was locked, so she got the keys and opened the door to a dark room.

She found the woman in the bathroom, and "saw blood everywhere," according to the affidavit.

Police also interviewed the brother of the alleged victim, who was in the basement at the time of the alleged attack.

Young came downstairs from the second floor, and yelled for his daughter, who was in the basement, police said.

The brother asked if everything was "cool" and Young allegedly said, "Everything is fine. My daughter got in trouble at home and I'm taking her home," according to the complaint. Young then walked out in a rush, police said.

The brother then heard crying and yelling from upstairs, and found it to be the daughter yelling to the woman that her door was locked, police said.

Then, the daughter and another girl came downstairs, yelling and crying for the brother to go upstairs, according to the complaint.

There, he found the woman a pool of blood, with blood on her face and hair, according to the affidavit.

The brother told police the woman also had a plastic warmup shirt wrapped around her neck, and the corner of her mouth was split, according to the affidavit.

A knife was on the floor next to her, he told police.

The brother, in shock, asked if she did the damage to herself. She told the brother, "No, he did," according to the affidavit. The brother yelled for someone to call 9-1-1 and he kept the woman awake, police said.

Hatfield Township Police served a search warrant on the home at 7:40 a.m. March 10.

Police located two pieces of a handle of a broken silver kitchen knife that was allegedly used to stab the woman, police said. 

A blood shirt and T-shirt were found in the upstairs bathroom, police said. A black plastic shirt was also found in the bathroom, police said.

Police determined the stabbing occurred between 11 p.m. March 9 and midnight March 10.

A warrant was issued for Young's arrest, but he turned himself in to police. 

Young allegedly admitted that he was responsible for the stabbing, but he did not know how many times the woman was stabbed, police said.