By Sheila McLaughlin
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MASON - In a 911 call from a pay phone at a Mason gas station early Christmas Day, Alvin Tucker calmly told a dispatcher that he had had a fight with his ex-wife and that he believed he had "hurt her very badly." "This is something that just exploded," he told a Warren County 911 dispatcher less than five hours after police say he stabbed Virginia Gilbert with an awl at least 26 times and hit her over the head about six times with a metal bar from a free weight.

On Tuesday, in his first appearance in court, the 50-year-old Mason man denied the brutal attack that police said happened in front of the couple's two young daughters.

With two dozen of Ms. Gilbert's neighbors, relatives and co-workers looking on, Mr. Tucker wore shackles, handcuffs and an orange-and-white-striped jail uniform as he walked into the municipal courtroom.

He pleaded not guilty to charges of felonious assault, domestic violence, child endangering, kidnapping and auto theft.

Judge George Parker continued Mr. Tucker's bail at $750,000, and sent him back to the Warren County Jail. He is scheduled to return to court next week for a preliminary hearing.

Ms. Gilbert, 42, who is undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer, did not attend Tuesday's hearing.

Mason Detective Scott Doughman said she was recovering after being released from the hospital on Friday. Her daughters, age 7 and 5, were with her, he said.

"She is obviously shaken, but she's a very strong woman," Ms. Gilbert's attorney, Jason Showen, said outside the courtroom.

Officers found her semi-conscious in the front yard of her ex-husband's home after her oldest daughter ran to a neighbor's house screaming that her dad "was trying to kill her mom." She told the neighbor that her mother was bloodied and that her father was "poking her with a knife in the head," according to 911 tapes the Enquirer obtained Tuesday.

"My mommy's dead. ... She's dead! She's dead!" the girl wailed inconsolably in the background as the neighbor spoke to the 911 dispatcher at 8:32 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Her 5-year-old sister was found unharmed inside their father's residence on Birchwood Farms Drive.

Mr. Tucker was discovered two days later asleep in Ms. Gilbert's car at a rest stop in Fayette County after he placed 911 calls saying he wanted to surrender to police.

Mr. Showen said Ms. Gilbert and Mr. Tucker, who shared custody, were divorced about a year ago. Authorities said Mr. Tucker was on unsupervised probation for threatening Ms. Gilbert more than a year ago.

The couple was recently involved in court actions over visitation and child support, for which Mr. Tucker was delinquent.

On the night of the attack, prosecutors said, Mr. Tucker lured Ms. Gilbert into his home when she arrived to pick up their daughters after a regular visit with their father.

Mr. Showen credits the girl's actions with saving her mother's life.

"She'd probably be dead if (the child) hadn't gotten out of the house," he said.

E-mail smclaughlin@enquirer.com