Iowa woman follows husband's new girlfriend to her building and stabs her to death two months after they separated
PELLA, IOWA: A woman who hails from Iowa has been accused of murdering her estranged husband's new girlfriend. On Monday, May 18, the Pella Police Department had responded to reports of a domestic disturbance. When they arrived at the scene, they found 46-year-old Tracy Mondabough lying injured inside a vehicle. According to court documents, the victim had stab wounds to the chest and lacerations on her hands.
Police officers had tried to perform life-saving measures but could not revive Tracy who was pronounced dead. Later on Monday, 55-year-old Michelle Boat was arrested and charged with a violation of a no-contact order which she had done several times. The next day, her charges were amended to include one count of murder in the first degree. A criminal complaint revealed that Boat has been estranged from her husband of 20 years, Nicholas, who had started dating Tracy, according to KCCI.
The complaint also revealed how on the night of the alleged murder, neighbors had heard an argument outside the apartment complex where Tracy was found dead. A witness also reported hearing someone say, "He don't belong to you," before fleeing the scene in a grey Cadillac.
The victim was found slumped over a car with stab wounds at around 8.20 pm in the 100 block of Glenwood Street in Pella, according to a Des Moines Register report. Authorities were also able to find blood on a car that had been parked outside Boat's house. When the police and investigators tracked the car, they found that it was still warm. Boat had answered the doorbell in a towel which indicated that she had just taken a shower. When authorities checked the toilet in her home, they found what appeared to be a pair of bloodied rubber gloves.
According to a report by Kniakrls, there was a lot of evidence that the police found which includes the contents of her washing machine which contained one outfit. Boat has also been caught on video following the victim both into and out of the Vermeer parking lot. Authorities have shared that Boat had visited her former husband's job at Vermeer Corporation less than an hour before the incident allegedly took place. Boat and her husband Nicholas had been married for around 20 years and had separated in March.
According to court records, Nicholas had definitely been dating the victim. Nicholas and Tracy had told the police that Boat would often follow them around town and had even assaulted Nicholas, based on multiple complaints filed this year. Tracy had also told the Ottumwa police in March that she had been scared after Boat followed her around 40 miles from Pella to Ottumwa. She was that fearful, that she had even requested the police to meet her at a gas station.
On March 22, Boat had been charged with domestic violence after she admitted to the police that she had repeatedly hit Nicholas. Boat is being held on a $2 million bond and is due in court on May 28. A hearing for domestic abuse, harassment and no-contact violation cases has been scheduled for June 2.