A 4-Year-Old Girl Was Stabbed. Then, Cops Say, She Told Doctors That ‘Daddy Had a Knife.’
Girl and her mother stabbed. She tells police 'daddy had a knife.'
Sep. 5 2023, Published 10:16 a.m. ET
A 4-year-old Pennsylvania girl is currently in critical condition while her mother was killed in an assault by the child's father, according to authorities.
Around 10 a.m. on Aug. 30, Richard Fantauzzi-Aviles, 38, flagged down police and told them, “I feel like they made me take her life,” according to the Northampton County District Attorney’s Office. When police asked who, he said he was referring to his wife.
Fantauzzi-Aviles then told police he needed to go to the hospital before giving them his address and house keys, officials said.
Officers went to that address and spotted blood at the top of the stairs and in a bedroom. Inside the bedroom, they found 38-year-old Shante Mason dead from multiple stab wounds. The little girl was next to her, conscious and speaking, authorities said.
Police also located in the room a large kitchen knife believed to be the murder weapon.
While officers were at the residence, Fantauzzi-Aviles’ sister called police and said her brother phoned her and admitted to killing Mason, officials said.
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After suffering life-threatening injuries to vital organs, the 4-year-old girl told doctors, “Daddy had a knife,” according to WFMZ.
She was airlifted to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and is listed in critical but stable condition.
Fantauzzi-Aviles was charged with homicide, attempted homicide, aggravated assault of someone younger than 13, and endangering child welfare, according to police.
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He was booked into the Northampton County Prison and is being held without bail.
One neighbor told WFMZ, “There’s a few times I wanted to call, make a report because there’s always yelling and fighting and banging on the walls.”
Other residents of the area said they remember seeing police respond to the home in the past, but authorities said there have been no prior domestic calls to police.
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