Stuart, FL/CBS12 News — A Stuart man is booked on a murder charge after he allegedly stabbed a woman in her seventies more than 16 times with a steak knife; he described her only as Jewish.
Kersten Francilus, 25, went before a judge Friday morning for the first time since his arrest on Thursday.
The Martin County Sheriff says Francilus went from door to door in the Southwood neighborhood, asking people for the location of a bank.
Francilus does not live in that neighborhood.
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Shortly before 4pm Thursday, sheriff’s detectives say Francilus attacked and repeatedly stabbed a woman in her seventies who was walking her dog.
At Francilus’ court appearance Friday, a prosecutor made some remarks that shed new light on the attack.
“He stabbed her, the victim, upwards of 16 times, and was actively stabbing her while the responding deputy was responding to the scene. He spoke with law enforcement and did state that he killed her, and when asked to describe her, the only way that he could describe her was that she was Jewish,” the prosecutor told the judge during the hearing.
Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek says a good Samaritan ran over to try to help the woman during the attack and tried to get the attacker away from her.
“Our suspect was on top of her actually, actively stabbing her. The civilian that tried to intervene could not get the male off of her,” Budensiek said. When a deputy arrived and pointed a gun at Francilus, the Sheriff says Francilus surrendered.
The judge ruled Francilus will be held without bond because there are no reasonable conditions for release that would protect the community from harm if he were released.
Authorities have not released the victim’s name. They have not released a motive for the fatal stabbing.
“This appears like an extremely violent random act of violence,” Budensiek said.
“We’ve always thought maybe he was a little troubled,” said one of Francilus’ neighbors. He asked not to be identified. He says Francilus was very quiet, rarely spoke, did not work and lived with his parents and a sister, who’s in college.
He says they would see Francilus walking around the neighborhood, sometimes at 3 or 4 in the morning and he would sometimes lay down in his driveway, fully clothed.
“Everyone here, we all are a little concerned with some of his behaviors, but I don’t think any of us felt as if his behavior would escalate to that. Weird, yes, but not to the point where we think he would have done what he did,” he explained.
This neighbor says he did not feel Francilus was violent and never saw him get angry.
“Maybe you’d see him talking to himself, but that would be the extent of it. He never raised his voice to anybody here,” he said.
The murder occurred in the Southwood neighborhood, which is about a half mile from where Francilus lives in the Willow Pointe gated community.
“She had a significant amount of stab wounds to the upper torso, some deflective stab wounds. This was a violent, violent homicide,” Sheriff Budensiek said.
We went to Francilus’ home seeking comment. No one came to the door when we knocked.