A man murdered his wife and stabbed her 14-year-old son in front of the couple’s other children early Christmas morning, according to Philadelphia police.
Officers were called to the home around 3:30 a.m. on Christmas morning after a domestic disturbance involving two adults and six children, ages 8 to 16. Police detained a 33-year-old man after his wife, 35, was found with multiple stab wounds in her abdomen. Authorities found the 14-year-old inside the home with a stab wound in his thigh.
A 10-inch butcher knife was used in the attack. The weapon was recovered inside the home after one of the children grabbed the knife and ran back inside to hide it, preventing anyone else from getting injured.
The wife was rushed to the hospital, but she did not survive. The teenager was in stable condition at the hospital, receiving treatment for his wounded leg despite losing “a lot of blood.”
Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small told WPIV that the children in the home identified the man as the one solely responsible for the attack. All of the children were being interviewed by authorities as witnesses to the murder.
“[They] said the 33-year-old male stabbed the 35-year-old female inside the property, chased her outside, and continued to stab her when she was outside,” Small explained. “We believe all of them witnessed the incident, or at least part of the incident.”
Small added, “It’s pretty clear from the crime scene inside that everything happened initially inside. We found a crime scene on the second floor, as well as on the first floor, which consisted of a large amount of blood; there’s also broken glass, there’s also overturned furniture. So there was clearly a violent struggle inside.”
The police inspector noted that it is believed the two adults were married at some point and that all of the children are related, but the exact details of the family structure are still being sorted out.
