The Tawnee Baird Case: Stabbed 46 Times By Her Jealous Girlfriend

[Ogden, Utah]

Tawnee Baird was just 17 years old when her and her friends got pulled over by a police officer and busted for drug paraphernalia. Tawnee didn’t hesitate to take all the charges for her friends which landed her 90 days in a behavioral health facility.

While there, she met another girl by the name of Victoria Mendoza. The two grew close inside the juvenile center and eventually started dating, even continuing their relationship once they both were released. Tawnee posted a plethora of happy pictures with Victoria on her social media accounts. They were inseparable, but also very toxic.

Victoria was extremely jealous of her girlfriend. She was paranoid that Tawnee was going to cheat on her or end up liking men again. Victoria’s own overthinking led her to cheat on Tawnee with her best friend, but Tawnee eventually forgave her and wanted to work on the relationship. In June of 2012, Victoria’s mother passed away from cancer so Tawnee’s mother let her stay with the family. Moving in together only increased the fights, eventually turning physical. During one scuffle, Victoria punched Tawnee so hard in the face that it knocked out her tooth.

On October 17th, 2014, Tawnee — now 21 — and her girlfriend hung out with their mutual friend, Lacey. Apparently, sometime during the hang out session, Victoria got upset, locked herself in the bathroom, and then demanded to leave. Lacey was dropped off at her house to give private time to the couple. However, making up was far from Victoria’s mind. Instead, she pulled out a sharp knife while Tawnee was driving and started to repeatedly stab her hands, arms, face, neck, chest and ear.

There were a total of 46 stab wounds. After stabbing the girl she supposedly loved, Victoria moved her lifeless body to the passenger seat and drove to Ogden. It is believed that she called her sister and confessed to her crime which resulted in the sister calling 911. When police arrived, they found Tawnee’s blood soaked body sprawled out in the passenger seat. According to Victoria, they had been arguing over a man just minutes before the stabbing, but that can never be confirmed.

Victoria pleaded guilty to first degree felony murder followed by saying “I have no excuse for what I did, it’s why I pleaded guilty…I know I’m the monster here.” Despite her plea, she tried to claim that she acted on “battered woman syndrome” after Tawnee was the primary aggressor during the whole relationship.

She was ultimately sentenced to 16 years in prison, but that didn’t sit well with Tawnee’s family. Her father stated, “Victoria Mendoza needs to be locked up for life without parole. Tawnee had a lot of dreams. She doesn’t get a second chance. … Victoria shouldn’t get a second chance.” The judge explained that his hands were tied with the sentencing because he could only sentence her to longer than 16 years if the case was considered aggravated murder.