A Vancouver man was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for stabbing a Clark College employee in the neck in May while she sat outside a campus building.
Salvador Aguilar, 31, pleaded guilty in Clark County Superior Court to first-degree assault and attempted theft of a motor vehicle. His sentence is set to run concurrent with a 13-month sentence in a 2023 residential burglary case, court records show.
Vancouver police responded at 4:29 p.m. May 14 to the college at 1933 Fort Vancouver Way for a report of a stabbing. Officers arrived to find Jami Crawford had been stabbed in the neck, according to a probable cause affidavit. Clark College previously said she was an employee of the college.
Crawford told officers she was sitting outside Gaiser Hall on the main campus when a man she didn’t recognize approached her. She said the man, whom police later identified as Aguilar, struck her in the neck, and she initially thought he’d punched her. She then realized she was bleeding and had been stabbed, court records state.
Before Aguilar stabbed her, Crawford said he yelled something about a sexual assault of his daughter, according to the affidavit.
Crawford was taken to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center. Medical personnel determined her injury was not life-threatening, but the wound was near vital veins, the affidavit states.
Police searched the area around the Vancouver college for the assailant, but they did not find him. Officers viewed surveillance video that captured the stabbing, according to court records.
Clark College security alerted police to an incident the day prior with a similar-looking suspect. Security officers said a woman contacted them about 7 p.m. and said a man had tried to get into her vehicle while she was sitting in it in one of the parking lots. The woman, identified as Trista Cochran, said the man pulled on her open door and repeatedly made comments about the sexual assault of his daughter. There was security footage of that incident, as well, the affidavit states.
Police shared photos of the assailant, which led to a tip that he was frequenting a business in the Rose Village neighborhood. A man said he sometimes let Aguilar stay on his property. Officers went there and found Aguilar sleeping inside the cab of a truck. Police arrested him and found the clothing he was seen wearing at the college inside the truck, according to court records.
During an interview with police, officers said Aguilar told them he was defending himself when he stabbed Crawford. Police noted in the affidavit that wasn’t consistent with the surveillance video. Investigators said Aguilar also admitted to trying to steal Cochran’s car, according to the affidavit.
