Nurse faces long recovery after attack

Jennifer Lutes was living in Petaluma with her young son, Hayden, while she looked for a job as a nurse when she was violently attacked by her roommate on Oct. 17.|

Jennifer Lutes moved west after growing up in Morton, Ill. She was living in Petaluma with her young son, Hayden, while she looked for a job as a nurse when she was violently attacked by her roommate on Oct. 17.

The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department has called the attack an attempted murder-suicide. Her assailant, Thomas E. Judkins of Vermont, died of self-inflicted stab wounds at the scene. Lutes now faces a long recovery after sustaining severe stab wounds to her chest and neck.

“It has been touch and go,” said Teddy Cogbill, a family friend of Lutes. “Last weekend, they feared they were losing her. But now I believe the doctors are trying to bring her out of the induced coma slowly. Her wounds on her neck were swollen so as to delay removing her breathing tube.”

Lutes suffered extensive injuries on her hands trying to protect herself from Judkins’ 8-inch knife, and doctors are waiting to see whether she’ll regain use of those damaged nerves. She is expected to spend the coming weeks in the hospital recovering. Her son is currently being cared for by relatives.

Her friends have established a fundraising website at gofundme.com/helpjenheal to collect donations for her medical bills and to get Lutes back on her feet.

Prior to coming to Petaluma, Lutes was a nurse at Tahoe Forest Hospital and in the pediatrics department at U.C. Davis Medical Center, according to her Facebook page.

(Contact Emily Charrier at emily.charrier@argus courier.com)

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