Woman stabs boyfriend’s kids, 10 and 14, in fight, Florida cops say. She’s convicted
A woman stabbed her boyfriend’s 10-year-old daughter and then the girl’s 14-year-old brother who tried to defend her, Florida authorities said.
Doris Espinoza-Rodriguez, 40, has now been convicted of two counts of attempted second-degree murder with a weapon, aggravated child abuse with a weapon and felony battery, the State Attorney’s Office for the Ninth Judicial Circuit said Sept. 16.
On Jan. 16, 2023, Espinoza-Rodriguez went to dinner with her boyfriend when they got into a fight, Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez said in a news conference.
They continued arguing back at home until Espinoza-Rodriguez took out a paring knife, and the man said he was going to call law enforcement, officials said.
In response, the woman found the 10-year-old girl and stabbed her in the shoulder, then stabbing her older brother as he tried to intervene, deputies said.
The father disarmed the woman, sustaining an injury to his hand, then pinned her down until deputies arrived, according to prosecutors.
Lopez said the 14-year-old boy called 911 and was the one to open the door for deputies while bleeding from his chest and shoulder. The younger girl was found in a pool of blood in a bedroom, and both children were flown to a hospital, according to Lopez.
The sheriff said the older brother likely saved his sister’s life.
“He is truly a hero,” he said.
In court documents, prosecutors said Espinoza-Rodriguez sent several text messages to the man implying she wouldn’t be “going out by herself” and saying she would go out with a “bang.”
Prosecutors said Espinoza-Rodriguez claimed self-defense during the trial and said the childrens’ dad had ordered them to attack her. Her attorney, Jonathan Mills, described it as more of an accident.
She’s expected to be sentenced in December.
Osceola County is part of the Orlando metropolitan area.
This story was originally published September 18, 2024 at 4:31 AM with the headline "Woman stabs boyfriend’s kids, 10 and 14, in fight, Florida cops say. She’s convicted."