Burnsville Man Charged with Cutting Girlfriend, Threatening to Kill Her and Then Himself

A Burnsville man has been charged with cutting a Bloomington woman with a knife, stuffing her cell phone battery into his underwear so she wouldn’t call police and then threatening to kill her and then himself.

Cullum Daniel Sutton, 32, is charged with second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, a felony with a maximum penalty of seven years in prison and a $14,000 fine. The charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of three years in prison and a $4,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaint, signed by Bloomington Police Detective Ed Hanson, police were called to an apartment in Bloomington just after 11:30 p.m. Aug. 19 to investigate a reported assault.

The victim told police that Sutton, her boyfriend, had arrived at her apartment about 11:15 and was intoxicated. She said he began to berate her, then took a folding knife from his pocket and waved it in front of her, calling her worthless.

Sutton began to cry a few minutes later and gave the knife to the victim, who put it between some sofa cushions. However, Sutton grabbed another knife and approached the victim with it, saying, “This one is a lot more sharper,” according to the complaint, then stabbed at blankets around the victim.

Sutton then removed the battery from the victim’s cell phone and stuffed it into his underwear, then went to the bedroom and put down the second knife, which the victim hid in a dresser. Sutton then found a butcher knife in the kitchen, stabbed at a calendar and the bedroom wall, grabbed the victim’s arm and yelled, “I’m going to kill you, and no one else is going to have you,” according to the complaint.

Sutton dragged the victim into the bedroom and ordered her to sit on the bed, she told police. He stabbed the closet door several times with the butcher knife and told the victim that they were both going to die that night, the victim said. Sutton then cut his own hand, grabbed the victim’s hand and ran the blade down it, leaving a mark.

Sutton held the knife to the victim’s back and told her, “Run and try to get your phone. If you try, I’ll throw this knife in your back,” according to the complaint. Sutton then cut the victim’s shirt from her back and told her, “It would be easy to kill you,” the complaint charges.

Sutton then got up, got a plastic bag, went into the closet and put the bag over his head, the victim told police, at which point she fled the apartment and called 911.

Sutton has been released from custody on a $30,000 bond. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled Sept. 12 in Hennepin County District Court.