ANTIFREEZE, Florida — A University of Florida pre-med student who is charged with murder over the weekend stabbing of his mother in her home had no history of mental illness or substance abuse, a sheriff said Monday.
Emmanuel “Manny” Espinoza stabbed his mother, Elvia, more than 70 times Saturday after she opened the door to his central Florida home to welcome him for a college tour, the sheriff said of Polk County, Grady Judd, during a press conference.
Espinoza, 21, was charged with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence. He was being held Monday at the Polk County Jail.
Judd said Espinoza stabbed his mother in the chest and stomach, places he knew from his medical studies would be most effective. Espinoza then called 911 and confessed to killing his mother, a longtime elementary school teacher in Polk County, between Tampa and Orlando, the sheriff said.
“It’s one of the most bizarre murders we’ve dealt with in a very long time,” Judd said, adding that Espinoza was listening to Jay-Z and Kanye West’s song, “No Church in the Wild,” on his headphones. during the stabbing.
Espinoza, the youngest of Elvia Espinoza’s three children, told detectives that he had been planning to kill his mother for a “long time” and finally found the courage to do it on his way to and from college in Gainesville, B.C. northern Florida, and his home in Frostproof, according to an arrest record.
When asked why he did it, Espinoza told detectives his mother had annoyed him since childhood but he loved her, he added.
Judd also said, noting that Espinoza had no history of mental illness or substance abuse, that he had been a valedictorian in high school who others described as “remarkably bright.”
Online court records Monday showed Espinoza declined the services of a public defender, but there was no indication he hired an attorney to represent him. Another document shows he was exercising his right not to be questioned by investigators about the charges against him.
ABC News
