Lackawanna County District Attorney Brian Gallagher identified Thursday the victims of Tuesday’s fatal machete attack at the Jermyn Apartments in Scranton, including a surviving victim he said remains in critical condition.

Linda P. Fortuna, 61, and Terry M. Muller, 59, were killed in the heinous attack, as was Muller’s service dog, a golden retriever named Nayla, Gallagher said in a news release. It notes Muller was a military veteran.

Marilyn Joan Waller, 66, seriously wounded in the attack that killed Fortuna and Muller, remains in critical care at Geisinger Community Medical Center.

“She’s still considered critical,” Gallagher said Thursday morning. “I think she has to undergo a number of surgeries. … I don’t think she’s out of the woods yet, but everything looks promising.”

A family member of Waller’s declined an interview request. Efforts to find and reach family of the deceased victims were not immediately successful.

District Attorney Brian Gallagher responds to questions regarding Tuesday night’s machete attack at the Hotel Jermyn during a news conference at the Scranton Police Department headquarters on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

The man accused of the attack, Michael Willie Marquis Woods, 38, and his victims lived on the sixth floor of the apartment building at 326 Biden St., investigators said Wednesday. Officers responding to the apartment building Tuesday night found Woods covered in blood holding a machete near Biden Street and Wyoming Avenue and took him into custody.

Woods, machete in hand, stabbed Fortuna in the chest as she stepped off an elevator about 6 p.m., police said. He then attacked Muller, throwing her to the ground and stabbing her in the chest. Both women were pronounced dead at the hospital.

Woods (Submitted)

Police found Waller, who suffered a “severe chest wound” and whose hand was nearly severed in the attack, in apartment 605. A witness told investigators that Woods stabbed her with the machete when she opened her apartment door, police said.

Woods, who lived in apartment 612, told police he smoked PCP, a hallucinogenic drug, earlier in the day.

He’s charged with multiple counts of criminal homicide, as well as aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated cruelty to animals for killing the service dog Nayla.

Woods remains in Lackawanna County Prison. District Judge Alyce Farrell denied bail at an arraignment Wednesday morning.

First responders block Biden St. while responding to a reported stabbing at Hotel Jermyn in Scranton on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

Gallagher called the attack “pure evil,” describing it as the most horrific homicide in the city in 20 years.

Fortuna

An obituary for Fortuna, one of the two deceased victims, notes she loved bus trips, lunch with her friends and was a member of the “Waldorf Tiki Bar.” The Waldorf Park German American Federation, or Waldorf Park G.A.F., is a social club located in the East Mountain Section of Scranton; a club officer confirmed Fortuna was a social member.

Linda P. Fortuna

Fortuna was born in Miami, Florida, received an associates degree at Lackawanna Junior College and worked at Moses Taylor Hospital and later Boscov’s in Scranton prior to her retirement, per her obituary.

A memorial service will be held Sunday at the Lawrence E. Young Funeral Home in Clarks Summit, beginning at 3 p.m. Friends may visit from 1 p.m. until the service. A graveside service will follow Monday at 10 a.m. at Cathedral Cemetery in Scranton.

“All are welcome to attend,” the obituary notes.

Former Hotel Jermyn

Officials had removed police tape from the front of the apartment building where the killings took place, the former Hotel Jermyn, as of Wednesday afternoon.

A historic downtown landmark, the building once served as a nightspot for dinner and dancing at the Manhattan Club or the Omar Room and was a shopping destination for many, according to the Lackawanna County Historical Society. It transitioned into apartments in 1997, according to the Times-Tribune archives.

It was renamed the Jermyn Hotel Apartments and converted into 85 efficiency 1- and 2-bedroom affordable apartments for adults 55 or with permanent disabilities. Tenants are required to meet income guidelines and Section 8 housing assistance is accepted, the complex’s website notes.

The property has been owned by the Phyl Corporation since it acquired the property over 46 years ago, according to a July 1979 property transaction recorded with Lackawanna County. Pasquale L. Verrastro is the president of Phyl Corporation, which was established in March 1979, according to a Pennsylvania Department of State corporation registry.

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