Woman Who Had ‘Cocaine With the Devil’ Pleads Guilty

In the morning hours of January 24th of this year, Luisa Cutting, 21, was arrested for the stabbing death of her roommate, 20 year old psychology major Alexa Cannon of Roanoke, Virginia.

Neighbors heard what sounded like a possible domestic disturbance and called police at 7:45 am.  When the police arrived, they reported that Cutting met them, covered with blood, at the door of the apartment.  She is said to have turned around, placed her hands behind her back and said, "arrest me." When asked what was going on, Cutting is said to have responded, "I killed her," according to the search warrant.

Cannon was found on the floor with multiple stab wounds and a butcher knife sticking out of her mouth.

The police interview was something out of the movies, with a “rambling and bizarre series of episodes” that included Cutting’s statement that she had done drugs with the devil, Radford City Commonwealth’s Attorney Chris Rehak said.  He went on to say that at various times in the interview Cutting prayed, talked about the Apocalypse, and recited the Hail Mary prayer repeatedly in Spanish.

It was reported that after being taken to jail, Cutting acted so bizarrely that she had to be taken to a mental health hospital for eleven days.

The only way that defense attorney Blair Howard could describe what was unfolding was to say that clearly Cutting had suffered a “psychotic episode” due to heavy drug use.

After evidently not sleeping for an extended period of time, Cutting said that the night before she stabbed Cannon she had taken a combination of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, Adderall, Xanax, mushrooms and cocaine.

With the approval of the Cannon family, Rehak negotiated the plea deal which resulted in Cutting's guilty plea on Monday, October 7th.  This spared the family from having to hear the details related to Cannon's death, the anxiety of trial, possible appeals, and contending with a possible mental competency defense.

Cutting was sentenced to a total of forty years in prison, twenty of those years being suspended after the initial twenty are served.  Cutting will also have to report to a probation officer for ten years once she is released.

Additionally, the Judge ordered that Cutting have no contact with Cannon's family and that she submit to any mental health treatment recommended by authorities.