The victim was pregnant with the defendant’s child when the attack happened in September 2024, prosecutors said.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Memphis woman survived after police said her former boyfriend stabbed her 10 times in a parking lot, and that case has now ended in an aggravated assault conviction with sentencing set for May 1.
The immediate significance is not the attack alone, but where the case stands now. Deandre Wilkins, 36, was convicted in March 2026 after a prosecution that followed the woman’s account, emergency response records and a broader history of alleged assaults over the summer of 2024. The woman’s name was not used in the reviewed public coverage, and later reports did not provide an updated public account of her medical condition, but officials said she lived through the stabbing and identified Wilkins as the attacker.
Police said the violence happened in front of other people. The woman was walking with friends on the evening of Sept. 20, 2024, in a parking lot in the 1500 block of Havana Street when Wilkins approached, according to the criminal complaint described in public reports. Investigators said he punched her in the face and then stabbed her repeatedly with a kitchen knife. During the attack, police said, he told her, “I told you I was going to get you.” Officers were dispatched around 8:40 p.m., paramedics transported her to a hospital and detectives later said she identified Wilkins in a photo lineup. Officials said she was pregnant with his child at the time.
The relationship history gave the case a personal and prosecutorial frame. Public reporting said the two had dated for about a year and had broken up a few months before the stabbing. Prosecutors later described the September attack as the third alleged assault on the same woman in three months. An earlier July 24 incident involved allegations that Wilkins punched her several times and stole her purse. A second incident on Aug. 5 led to claims that he held her and her four children inside an apartment, punched her in the mouth and threatened to kill her if she tried to leave. Authorities said he also brandished a kettlebell and threatened to use it against her. Those details were important because they shifted the story from a sudden attack to an alleged pattern that had been building for weeks.
The criminal case moved through several forms before reaching trial. After the September stabbing, Wilkins was initially arrested on attempted murder and domestic assault charges. A grand jury later indicted him on aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping. When jurors ruled in March 2026, they convicted him of aggravated assault and acquitted him of kidnapping. Later reporting said the conviction leaves him facing a 15-year sentence. The public materials reviewed here did not include full courtroom testimony or a detailed explanation of the jury’s reasoning, so some questions about how the charge list changed and why one count failed remain unanswered in the public record.
Officials also pointed to Wilkins’ status before and after the attack. Reporting said he posted a $60,000 bond following the August case, and a bench warrant was issued Aug. 20, 2024, after he failed to appear in another case. After the September stabbing, he was arrested and remained in the Shelby County Jail. Prosecutors said he had prior convictions for aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, aggravated robbery and burglary, and state correction records cited in coverage said he was on probation. Those facts widened the case beyond the immediate injuries by placing it inside a longer criminal history and a series of earlier court contacts.
The public image of the case remains stark: a woman with friends in a Memphis parking lot, a sudden confrontation, first responders rushing her to a hospital, and a jury many months later deciding that prosecutors had proved aggravated assault beyond a reasonable doubt. The verdict did not answer every question, but it fixed the case at a new stage, from accusation to punishment.
As of April 19, the next milestone is May 1, when a judge is scheduled to sentence Wilkins on the aggravated assault conviction.
Author note: Last updated April 19, 2026.