BROOKSVILLE, Fla., Sept. 18 (UPI) — Authorities in Florida said a woman with more than 3,500 knives, swords and machetes in her home was arrested at the end of a five-hour standoff with police.
The Hernando County Sheriff’s Office said deputies went to the Brooksville home of Nickole Dykema, 47, Tuesday night to help probation and parole officers serve a felony arrest warrant for an alleged parole violation.
Dykema, a convicted felon, allegedly used a bladed weapon to damage a neighbor’s window screen and air conditioning unit.
Investigators said Dykema refused to exit her home when ordered by deputies and she swung a bladed weapon at a deputy, missing his face by inches.
Dykema brandished a large sword and was shot at least twice with nonlethal beanbag rounds from a shotgun, but she was not taken into custody until a deputy managed to stun her with a Taser.
The suspect was treated for minor injuries at the scene and transported to the Hernando County Detention Center on charges of assault on a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest with violence, property damage and three counts of probation violation.
Investigators said they found a total 3,714 bladed weapons inside the home. Sheriff’s spokeswoman Denise Moloney said the house was also filled with fake body parts and there was an arrangement of items that appeared to be Satanic in nature.
“It appears there was some satanic thing going on,” Moloney told CNN. “She had pictures of pentagrams, there were fake body parts, the kind that you can buy from the Halloween store, and skeletons on the wall with knives protruding out of them.”
Dr. Ryan Wagoner, a psychiatrist with the University of South Florida and Tampa General Hospital, said Dykema may have been suffering from a hoarding disorder and a psychotic disorder.
“While mental illness itself may not be something that you can visibly see, often you can see the effects,” Wagoner told WTSP-TV. “It’s hard to understand what the reason is for holding on to those objects and there can be many different reasons.”
