AUBURN – Tarina Botelho initially told police that her boyfriend slipped on a wet floor and fell on the knife that punctured his heart and killed him.

But eventually her story changed. Then changed again.

The details of Botelho’s interviews with police are laid out in a three-page affidavit released Tuesday after Botelho made her initial appearance in Androscoggin County Superior Court.

A 31-year-old mother of six, Botelho has been charged with murdering her boyfriend, Jamilah Shabazz, on the night of Sept. 5 in her Knox Street apartment.

She is being held in Androscoggin County Jail on $50,000 cash bail or $100,000 in property.

Shabazz died about 10 p.m. Sept. 5, shortly after being rushed from Botelho’s bedroom to Central Maine Medical Center. The state Medical Examiner’s Office has determined that he suffered a single stab wound to his heart.

Police interviewed Botelho for the first time on the night of the stabbing.

According to the affidavit written by Maine State Police Detective John Hainey, Botelho’s explanation of what happened changed twice since then.

Shortly after claiming Shabazz slipped on the floor and fell on the knife, Hainey wrote, Botelho told investigators that she stabbed Shabazz after he came at her with a knife.

She described a scene during which they were struggling and fell on her bed. She said Shabazz was on top of her, and she was holding him up with one hand. She said that she used her other hand to grab a knife from under her bed. She pulled out the knife, and Shabazz fell on it.

Police spent the next several weeks investigating the case.

Investigators questioned Botelho again on Oct. 21. During that interview, the affidavit says, Botelho told detectives that she was angry with Shabazz earlier in the day, so she cut up his clothes, put them in a suitcase and threw it out the window.

When Shabazz came to her apartment that night, they both started to cry and Shabazz asked her why they couldn’t make the relationship work, Botelho told detectives.

Botelho said she grabbed a knife – the same one she used to cut up his clothes – just as Shabazz opened his arms to hug her. Then, she said, she swung around and stabbed him in the chest.

Botelho’s six children, ages 6 to 13, were home at the time of the stabbing.

Police consulted with the Maine Attorney General’s Office after the Oct. 21 interview and decided to charge Botelho.

The charge implies that Botelho meant to kill Shabazz when she stabbed him in the chest. A lesser charge of manslaughter would have been filed if police believed the stabbing was accidental.

Both Shabazz and Botelho had previous criminal records, including charges of assault, criminal threatening and terrorizing.

If convicted of murder, she could be sentenced to life in prison. Her case will likely be presented to a grand jury next month. If the jurors find the state has presented enough evidence to charge her, she will return to court to enter her plea.