It may not come as a surprise that the 24-year-old District woman who allegedly stabbed 20-year-old NPR intern Annie Ropeik multiple times and for no particular reason Wednesday morning is mentally ill. Recently filed charging documents say Melodie Anne Brevard has been diagnosed as having Bipolar Type II disorder. Brevard was supposed to be on the psychotropic drug Abilify but hadn’t taken it for a month, the documents say.
The description documents provide of the 9:30 a.m. attack in Chinatown is chilling: “Without any provocation, the defendant stabbed the complainant with a knife in the left collarbone, upper back, lower back, and right side. The stab wound to the complainant’s right collarbone pierced through the complainant’s back.”
A witness told police that after the stabbing occurred the witness yelled: “This lady just stabbed someone” and Brevard replied: ” Yes, call the police.”
One of the wounds damaged Ropeik’s spinal cord. She is “currently paralyzed on the left side of her body below the rib cage.” A statement from NPR says Ropeik is in stable condition.
Maryland court records say Brevard has been arrested before. She was arrested in Montgomery County for a second degree assault in 2007 for which she pleaded guilty. Then, in 2009, she was picked up by Prince George’s cops for an alleged assault on a police officer. The charges were dismissed.
Also interesting: Brevard appears to be an aspiring model. A profile on the site ModelMayhem.com seems to belong to the assault-with-intent-to-kill suspect.
“I am using this site for networking, exposure and modeling opportunities,” the profile says. Brevard mentions that she is open to fashion shows and print modeling. Under credits, she lists that she appeared in Jet Magazine in October 2005. The site displays a portfolio.
Brevard’s aspirations would seem to be at least temporarily derailed. Things could be far worse for her, given what can happen to the District’s mentally ill.
Ropeik is a junior at Boston University and is a classics and philosophy major.