A student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was arrested and charged with two felony counts in Illinois after allegedly stabbing her mother in the head with a kitchen knife, according to Lake County, Illinois court records.
Sashary Almanza Vega, 20, was arrested in Vernon Hills, a suburb north of Chicago, around 7 a.m. Thursday after police received a 911 call reporting a mother had been stabbed in the head by her daughter.
The call, allegedly made by the suspect’s father, said the mother went downstairs after hearing noise to find dishes had fallen out of the dishwasher. She told Almanza to stop making noise, and at that time Almanza allegedly grabbed a kitchen knife and attempted to stab her mother four or five times before fleeing the scene, according to the Lake & McHenry County Scanner (LMCS).
Officers located Alamanza about half a mile from the address of the incident and took her into custody without incident. A kitchen knife suspected to have been used in the stabbing was recovered at the scene of the arrest.
Almanza is enrolled at UW-Madison, the Office of the Registrar confirmed to The Daily Cardinal. She is a third-year undergraduate student studying psychology, criminal justice, disability rights and services and Chicana/o and Latina/o studies, according to a LinkedIn profile.
A specific motive for the alleged attack is unknown, but investigators determined the issue stemmed from an encounter in the kitchen, the Vernon Hills Police Department told the Cardinal.
The victim suffered a single stab wound to the back of the head and was transported to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville to receive treatment.
Almanza told officers she was recently arrested in another city and her parents brought her home, according to LCMS.
A Lake County judge granted a petition to detain Almanza before her trial following a detention hearing Friday, calling the incident a “violent stabbing.” The judge said that while she’s a student with good grades, he’d be uncomfortable releasing her because the attack was “unexplainable,” according to the LMCS.
This is a developing story.
Ella Hanley is the associate news editor for The Daily Cardinal. She has written breaking, city, state and campus news. Follow her on Twitter at @ellamhanley.
