Police said the suspect fled on a mountain bike after a woman was stabbed inside her home.
GREEN BAY, Wis. — A stabbing inside an east-side Green Bay home set off a police search June 2 after officers said the attacker left the scene on a blue mountain bike.
The search ended with the arrest of Justin Thomas Bacon, 29, who was later charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide and armed burglary. Police said the 39-year-old victim was found at a residence in the 900 block of North Clay Street with a serious chest wound. The case drew a wider public response because a nearby school was briefly placed in a “secure the building” status while officers looked for the suspect.
The public safety response began shortly after 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, when police were called to the North Clay Street home for a reported stabbing. Officers found the woman injured and provided first aid before she was taken to a local hospital. They were told the suspect had fled by bicycle. That description shaped the first hours of the investigation. Police looked for a man on a blue mountain bike and later found Bacon in the area of Main and Abrams streets. Local accounts differed on how long the search lasted, with one report saying he was arrested about four hours after the attack and another saying he was found about an hour later. Police said Bacon had blood on his clothing when he was located and believed he may have jumped in a river to hide.
As officers searched, investigators began building the account of what had happened inside the home. Witnesses said Bacon had been visiting a neighbor before the attack. He heard the woman yelling at one of her children, then walked toward her residence, according to police. A witness told investigators Bacon entered through the living room and began accusing the woman of hurting her children. The complaint says he was armed with a knife and stabbed the woman while saying she was going to die. The woman’s 12-year-old son struck Bacon twice with a stick, and another witness also intervened. Bacon then left the home, according to the complaint. Witnesses found the woman wounded and helped bring police into a case that had shifted from a domestic-sounding noise outside to an alleged armed home invasion.
The neighborhood details mattered because the complaint does not describe Bacon as someone who had come to the home for a planned meeting with the victim. Police said the victim did not personally know him. She told investigators she knew of him only through another person who had been outside the house. The complaint says Bacon was near the home because he was visiting a neighbor, not because he lived there or had a known relationship with the woman. That made witness statements from the neighbor and others important. They placed Bacon nearby before the stabbing, described what he heard and gave police a timeline for when he moved from the neighbor’s property to the woman’s residence.
The woman’s own statement added a more detailed account after the emergency response ended. She told police Bacon said, “You’re gonna die, you’re already dead.” During Bacon’s first court appearance, she said she did not realize at first that she was being stabbed until she had been stabbed several times. She also said her children watched her bleed. Her statement was short but direct, and it gave the court a view of the violence described in the complaint. Police said the woman survived. They did not release the names of the children. Local reports described the injuries as serious, and one account said officers treated her at the scene before transport to the hospital. No full medical report has been made public.
The allegation that Bacon acted because he believed the woman was hurting her children became part of the case, but police have not announced that the woman was charged with any crime. The complaint says officers asked her about Bacon’s accusation. She said about two weeks earlier she had disciplined her 12-year-old son, but she said it was not over the top. She also told investigators she may scream or holler at her children, and that someone may have heard her yelling and thought more was happening. The complaint does not say Bacon saw abuse take place. It says he heard yelling, went to the home and attacked the woman. Investigators have not released evidence showing that Bacon had any legal authority or official role related to the children.
The charges filed two days later reflected both the alleged attack and the alleged entry into the home. Bacon was charged June 4 with attempted first-degree intentional homicide with use of a dangerous weapon and with armed burglary. Both counts include repeat-offender modifiers. The attempted homicide count focuses on the accusation that Bacon stabbed the woman while threatening her life. The burglary count focuses on the accusation that he entered the home without consent while armed. Prosecutors said Bacon’s criminal history was relevant at the initial appearance. Assistant District Attorney Amy Pautzke said he had been released from prison only about three weeks before the stabbing. That prison term followed a 2021 case involving an attack on his stepfather with a baseball bat.
The earlier conviction gave the new case added procedural weight. Bacon had pleaded no contest to recklessly endangering safety after the 2021 incident, in which authorities said he struck his stepfather in the head 12 times. In the new case, prosecutors asked for a high cash bond. Bacon was held in the Brown County Jail on $750,000 cash bond after the charges were filed. Police said that after his arrest he denied knowing the victim and denied knowing anything about the stabbing. Those denials now sit against the statements of witnesses, the victim’s account, the child’s intervention, the alleged blood on his clothing and the police timeline from North Clay Street to the arrest area.
The temporary school security measure also marked how quickly a single violent call affected the surrounding area. Officials did not report a broader threat after Bacon was taken into custody. The secure status was tied to the search, not to any allegation that a school had been targeted. Police said no additional details were being released at one point in the case, leaving the court process to fill in more of the record. The next phase was expected to include continued review of the complaint, possible witness statements, medical records and any physical evidence gathered from the home, the bicycle route, Bacon’s clothing and the location where he was arrested.
Bacon’s next listed court date was July 2 and he remained jailed on the $750,000 cash bond. The victim survived, and the case stood in the early stages as prosecutors pursued the attempted homicide and armed burglary charges in Brown County court.
Author note: Last updated July 8, 2026.