Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Lynda Kurpis Hester, 41, was arrested early Wednesday morning and charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon after allegedly stabbing another woman in her bed at GRACE Marketplace. She was also charged with possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.

At about 1:30 a.m. on October 9, a Gainesville Police Department officer responded to GRACE Marketplace (3055 NE 28th Dr), where the victim said she had been in a bed next to Hester and the two women were talking about getting some sleep, but Hester became upset and threatened to fight her. She said she tried to de-escalate the situation, “knowing the deteriorating mental and emotional state of [Hester].”

The victim said Hester told her to go outside of the dormitory, away from cameras, to fight, but she refused; she said Hester pulled a pocket knife from under her pillow and cut her on her upper arm. The officer reported that the victim had a 4-5-inch laceration on her arm.

Post Miranda, Hester reportedly denied any of this had happened. She reportedly said she was being “threatened by trespassers” and “looked at by perverts on cameras.”

The officer reported that the incident was captured on surveillance cameras and the pocket knife was found on Hester’s bed.

A search incident to arrest reportedly produced a clear plastic baggie, a “blue golf tee looking straw which is an indication of narcotic activity,” and a folded paper containing a white powdery substance that tested positive for methamphetamine.

Hester has no criminal convictions. Judge Gloria Walker ordered her held without bail pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s Office to hold her without bail until trial.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.