Florida woman walking her dog stabbed to death by man armed with kitchen knife: MCSO

STUART, Fla. - A Florida woman is dead, and a man has been charged with her murder in what the Martin County Sheriff’s Office is calling a horrific random act of violence.

What we know:

According to MCSO, multiple people in the South Wood community in Stuart called 911 around 4 p.m. on Thursday to report a suspicious man walking door-to-door.

"The individuals that we spoke to, and they range from smaller children to older people, said that he walked up to several front doors, knocked on the doors, and then asked them where the new bank was," explained Martin County Sheriff John Budensieko. "There is no bank around here. But, he asked several people where the new bank was. At which point, after his interaction with them, he turned and walked down the driveway to the next place."

Moments after the calls regarding the suspicious man were made, more people called 911 and said that the man was attacking a woman walking her dog in a cul-de-sac.

Courtesy: Martin County Sheriff's Office

A deputy who was en route to the suspicious person call saw that a civilian was trying to help the woman as the suspect was on top of her, actively stabbing her.

"The civilian tried to intervene but could not get the male off of her," the sheriff explained. "So, when our deputy pulled up…he pulled his gun out and immediately, the suspect disengaged the female who he was still actively stabbing when the deputy pulled up in his patrol car and proned himself on the ground, throwing the knife down and giving up."

An off-duty officer who lives in the neighborhood performed life-saving measures on the woman in her 70s, but she passed away shortly after being taken to the hospital.

Courtesy: Martin County Sheriff's Office

"She had a significant amount of stab wounds to the upper torso," the sheriff stated. "Some deflective stab wounds. This was a violent, violent homicide."

Who is Kersten Francilus?

Sheriff Budensieko said that the suspect was identified as 24-year-old Kersten Francilus.

He said Francilus lived in a nearby neighborhood with his mother, wife and child.

"They said that the knife that he had here, which was a steak knife, came from their house," Budensieko said. "We have not had a lot of interactions with this individual. He was born in 2000. I think we had one call for service. We’ve had no criminal history with this suspect and we have no nexus between the suspect and the victim. She was a white female in her mid-70s. At this point, it appears that this was an extremely violent, random act of violence. Really, an off set of circumstances for this nice neighborhood and this individual walking in it."

Francilus has been charged with murder.

Courtesy: Martin County Sheriff's Office

What we don't know:

The motive behind the stabbing is unknown.

The nexus between the suspect and the victim are unknown.

"We just simply know that we’ve had a horrendous crime take place in this neighborhood," Budensieko said.

What they're saying:

During a press conference on Thursday, the sheriff stated, "The neighborhood did the right thing. They saw something that wasn’t right. They called the Martin County Sheriff’s Office. We were responding. There were no indications that this subject was violent. We get these calls every day. You have salesmen who are going door-to-door. You have AT&T, Amazon, the list goes on and on. We get these calls every day. This community did what they needed to do as a whole. Hey, this guy just doesn’t belong here. He’s asking weird questions. There is no bank here. It just doesn’t make sense and I don’t think there’s anything that could have been done differently as far as the community goes."