A 34-year-old American woman accused of severing her partner's penis and leaving him to bleed to death in a hotel room has entered a formal plea of not guilty by reason of insanity in a Colorado court, True Crime News reported.
Shenting Guo officially submitted the insanity plea during a court session in Mesa County on August 14, 2026. She faces criminal charges following the May 2024 death of her 38-year-old partner, Dustin Knolls.
According to investigators, the incident occurred at the Woodspring Suites hotel in Colorado, where Guo stabbed Knolls in the leg with a knife. When he lost consciousness, Guo cut off his penis and threw it into a trash can in the bathroom.
Following the attack, Guo left the hotel room to buy rubbing alcohol, antibiotics, and beer at a nearby store. She returned and gave Knolls ibuprofen before medical responders reached the scene. Paramedics arriving at the room were unable to save Knolls, who died from severe blood loss.
Motives and Police Statements
Guo later explained to law enforcement officers that the violent confrontation began over a dispute regarding a possible pregnancy. She said Knolls had expressed doubts about whether he was the father of the child.
Guo told officers she inflicted the initial knife wound because Knolls was preventing her from sleeping. She stated that she continued the physical attack to check whether he was pretending to be asleep after collapsing.
Woodspring Suites is an extended-stay hotel chain operating across North America, while Mesa County is located on the western slope of Colorado. Under American legal procedure, an insanity plea indicates that a defendant claims a mental defect prevented them from understanding their actions at the time of an offense.
Legal Charges and Mental Health Assessments
Prosecutors charged Guo with second-degree murder, assault, reckless manslaughter, and abuse of a corpse.
Throughout the legal proceedings, defense attorneys have insisted on Guo's insanity, stating that she was diagnosed with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder. Schizophrenia spectrum disorders are psychiatric conditions that can impair cognitive function and perception of reality. During one court session, Guo acknowledged that she did not understand what was happening around her.
The court had previously directed Guo to undergo a psychiatric examination earlier in 2026, but the legal question surrounding her sanity remains open. Guo is currently held in custody awaiting further judicial hearings and another psychiatric evaluation, after which a trial date will be scheduled.
Similar Domestic Assault Incidents
The proceedings follow a separate domestic violence case in Nigeria, where a 25-year-old woman cut off her partner's penis in the city of Kano after learning that he planned to marry another woman.
