JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A quiet Arlington Heights street has been shaken by the slaying of a young girl.
Jacksonville police said a woman stabbed the girl to death inside a home on New Haven Road and then stabbed herself.
It happened Wednesday afternoon, and neighbors still can’t make sense of it all.
Multiple people who News4Jax talked with on Thursday said they’ve seen what appeared to be multiple family members coming and going out of the house on any given day and all of them have always been very friendly.
All of the neighbors are wondering what could have gone so wrong since, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, multiple people were inside the house when the stabbing happened.
“I just can’t even imagine the pain that they’re going through right now. It’s just unimaginable,” said Karen Wedige, who lives inside the house directly across the street from where the stabbing happened.
Wedige said she didn’t see anything or hear anything Wednesday.
“I didn’t hear any screams. I didn’t even hear any sirens,” she said.
Police said the girl was under 8 years old. The Sheriff’s Office who not say how the girl and the woman knew each other, only saying they have a relationship to one another.
Throughout Thursday, the house was quiet, except for a few people who News4Jax saw drive up and who did not wish to speak.
Multiple neighbors like Wedige told News4Jax they’ve seen two or three children regularly at that address over the last few years.
“The two little boys, they are so polite. I told my husband, I said, ‘You know they raised those kids right,‘” Wedige said.
Wedige said she met two young boys at a garage sale but never met a young girl.
“That’s the only time I’ve ever seen them,” Wedige said. “And I’ve never seen a little girl, but my husband says that he has a little girl, too. And my son said he had seen her, but I’ve never seen.”
Neighbors didn’t know the names of the people who live at the house. News4Jax looked up the address, and it’s listed as a rental owned by an LLP with no contact information.
The Sheriff’s Office said a child under the age of 10 and three other adults were in the house at the time of the stabbing.
Wedige said she’s praying for all of them.
“I know we can’t bring a little girl back. I mean, I would love for that to be a possibility, but we can’t,” she said. “But we can pray for the family. We can pray that they will have some kind of peace.”
The crime tape has been taken down, and News4Jax didn’t see any police out in the area on Thursday — a drastic change of scenery from Wednesday when the whole street was shut down.
Police said the woman was taken to a hospital with critical injuries but was in stable condition at last check. As of Wednesday, police hadn’t been able to speak with her in the hospital.
A JSO sergeant off his head said he had no knowledge of any history of domestic violence at that address. News4Jax has formally requested calls for service but had not received that information as of Thursday afternoon.