Florida Mom Allegedly Stabbed 12-Year-Old Daughter And Left Her For Dead In Nature Preserve

A Florida woman is facing charges for allegedly taking her 12-year-old daughter to a nature preserve, stabbing her in the face and neck, and attempting to hide the girl’s body, though she survived the attack.

The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office said deputies responded to the Cecil Webb Wildlife Management Area after bystanders found the girl bleeding and called authorities. The victim had cuts to the face and neck and was “weak and in need of immediate medical attention” when she was found, the sheriff’s office said.

The victim identified her attacker as 35-year-old Gwendolyn Girard, and said Girard left her under the brush before leaving in a gold-colored van.

With assistance from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, the suspect’s van was located in North Fort Myers, along with Girard. The van was impounded and Girard was questioned. Detectives allegedly obtained a full confession, including the location of the knife used in the attack, prompting a dive team search of a canal near the family’s home, the sheriff’s office said.

Girard was arrested and charged with aggravated battery and aggravated child abuse. She was being held at the Lee County Jail with a $750,000 bond pending extradition to Charlotte County.

The sheriff’s office said the victim received treatment and was in stable condition. The victim’s paternal grandmother, Eunice Kent, told WINK that the girl “played dead” in order to end the attack.

“She’s a brave little girl. She said she played dead. She said she fought her mother off as long as she could, and then she played dead, and then her mom left her there,” Kent told the outlet.

“In my 33-year career, there are only a handful of times that I have been left speechless. This is one of those times,” said Sheriff Bill Prummell. “To attack a child with a knife… I cant understand it. It is only by Gods 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.”