Wisconsin woman acquitted of murder in fatal Barron County stabbing

A jury has acquitted a woman of murder in a fatal 2019 stabbing in rural Barron County, Wisconsin.

According to court records, Melanie Kuula, 45, of Birchwood, Wisconsin, had been charged with one count of second-degree intentional homicide in connection with the stabbing death of her boyfriend, Brett Bents. She pleaded not guilty to the charge in January 2020, and a jury acquitted her on Friday.

According to a criminal complaint, on Aug. 10, 2019, law enforcement responded to the 200 block of Soo Avenue East in Almena, Wisconsin, after a caller reported that his neighbor said she stabbed her boyfriend.

Woman charged in connection to fatal Barron County stabbing

Bents was found wounded at the scene and was later pronounced dead. An autopsy determined the cause of death was a stab wound.

The complaint states Kuula told multiple neighbors that she had caught her boyfriend engaged in a sexual act with another woman and she stabbed him, which Kuula later confirmed to police.