Intended victim: 'He thought it was me'

LAKE ODESSA, Mich. (WOOD) - Raschelle Rutledge thought her best friend was having a nightmare. Instead, she was waking up to one.

"I never knew somebody could be so far gone," said Rutledge. "It was like something you would see in a horror film."

Rutledge's ex-boyfriend, Daniel Hank Surline, is accused of stabbing her best friend, Emily Faul, repeatedly as Faul slept. Faul, 23, who is 8 weeks pregnant, was visiting the mobile home where Rutledge lives with her three young children.

Faul was hospitalized but will survive the attack, police said. Her unborn child was not harmed.

Surline, 38, of Grand Ledge, was arraigned Wednesday on charges of attempted murder, home invasion, stalking and domestic violence. He is being held at the Ionia County Jail.

Raschelle Rutledge said her ex-boyfriend wasn't supposed to be at the mobile home. She had filed a personal protection order against Surline in early October after accusing him of threatening to kill her and cut her up.

"He was going to murder me and nobody was ever going to find the remains," she said.

She had recently broken up with him, she said, and he wasn't taking it well.

He called her three days ago, she told 24 Hour News 8, threatening to kill her and their unborn baby. But she didn't tell police.

"He's made several threats before and he's never followed through with any of them," she said.

Just before 5 a.m. Tuesday, Rutledge woke up to the sound of her friend screaming for help.

"It was pitch black in my house," she said. "He seen somebody there (on the couch). He thought it was me. That's where I always laid. That's where I always slept. He thought it was me."

Police say Surline stabbed the victim about five times in the head and upper body. Raschelle said she heard her friend screaming.

"Help, help, somebody help. I thought she was dreaming."

That's when she ran out and saw a shadowy figure in the room.

"And it took one more swing," she recalled. "I said, 'Emily what are you doing?' And he looked right up at me."'

That, she said, is when her ex-boyfriend appeared to realize his mistake.

"He thought it was me. The minute he heard my voice, he stopped. He looked right up at me like f---, I don't have Raschelle."

"I completely froze," Rutledge recalled. "I said, what do you want? I will do anything."

Before leaving, he looked right at her.

"He said, 'You're f------ lucky I'm letting you and the baby live.' Right in my face with her blood all over him."