CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. — A Florida woman was arrested after deputies say she stabbed a 12-year-old girl and left her for dead in a nature preserve on Monday afternoon.
The Charlotte County Sheriff's Office said the victim was found by passing bystanders at the Cecil Webb Wildlife Management Area with cuts on her face and neck. They contacted deputies, who found the victim was weak and in need of immediate medical attention when they arrived.
The victim told deputies that the suspect, Gwendolyn Girard, 35, attacked her with a knife and left her under the brush before leaving in a gold-colored van.
During an investigation, Lee County Sheriff's Office deputies found both Girard and the van in North Fort Myers. The van was towed to impound, and Girard was taken in for questioning.
Deputies then secured a warrant for her arrest on charges of aggravated battery and aggravated child abuse. Girard confessed to the attack, including the location of the knife she used.
The victim received medical attention and is in stable condition.
“In my 33-year career, there are only a handful of times that I have been left speechless. This is one of those times. To attack a child with a knife… I can’t understand it," Sheriff Bill Prummell said. "It is only by God’s grace that she is still with us today, and I pray for her as she heals from this horrific incident. Unfortunately, the mental trauma inflicted on her may never heal.”
Girard is being held at the Lee County Jail with a $750,000 bond, pending extradition to the Charlotte County Jail.
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