A pre-med university student fatally stabbed his mother when he returned home for the weekend, according to authorities.
Emmanuel Espinoza, 21, stabbed his mother, Elvia, more than 70 times without so much as saying a word on Saturday, while he was visiting her from college.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said the Florida student told detectives that he loved [his mother] and that they maintained a good relationship, but that he has wanted to ‘kill her for years’ as she was irritating.
Officials have charged Espinoza with first-degree murder for her death.
He drove more than 160 miles and arrived at the house at approximately 2 p.m., knocked on the door and stabbed her with a pen knife without any provocation as soon as the door was opened.
The horrifying incident was captured on Elvia’s doorbell camera. In the video, Emmanuel can be seen approaching the door hiding a small knife behind his back, while listening to music with his AirPods.
His 46-year-old mother, who was delighted to see him, had immediately opened the door as soon as he knocked. And the second she did, he started to stab her repeatedly. She eventually fell to the floor and died.
Emmanuel said he noticed his mother’s hands were still moving but continued to stab her anyway. He also confessed that he knew exactly where to stab her thanks to his biology classes.
He told officials that he had cut himself in the hand during the attack and had gone to the kitchen to wash his wound. He had wanted to ask his mother for an antibiotic ointment but realized she was dead. He then called 911 and confessed to the murder.
During the dispatch call, Emmanuel could be heard saying ‘I killed someone’ and that [he] had stabbed his mom.
When detectives arrived, they asked about his relationship with his mother, to which he told them their relationship was an eight out of ten.
The sheriff also confirmed that he didn’t have any alcohol in his system and wasn’t on any drugs. The student also did not have a history of mental health or abuse issues and had no criminal record.
According to Judd, Emmanuel was quite introverted and had graduated from his high school as the class valedictorian and was considered to be ‘a genius’ by many.
His mother had wanted to see him for a while as he hadn’t returned home from college for many weeks. The two had always kept in touch with regular text and there were no financial issues as she would regularly send him money for college.
Despite all that, he fatally stabbed her without saying a word.
Elvia Espinoza had two other children and worked as a second-grade teacher at a local elementary school in Frostproof, Florida. In a statement, Polk County Public Schools said her colleagues and students missed her greatly and described her death as a ‘devastating loss’.
