Investigators said the victim was found bleeding on a sidewalk after trying to get help.
PHILADELPHIA, PA — Police searched Monday for a woman accused of fleeing after her mother was stabbed to death late Sunday night on the 4600 block of Westminster Avenue in West Philadelphia.
The killing remained in its early investigative stage Monday morning. Philadelphia police said officers were called to the block shortly before 11 p.m. Sunday and found a woman bleeding on the sidewalk outside a neighbor’s home. Investigators believe the woman had been trying to get help when she was stabbed multiple times. Police had not publicly released the victim’s name or the daughter’s identity.
Philadelphia Police Inspector D.F. Pace said investigators were still working to identify and locate the daughter. “We do not have yet an identity on the daughter. We’re still trying to find this person,” Pace said. “We understand that she fled the scene. We don’t even know if it was in a car or on foot.” Police said the victim was believed to be in her 50s and lived on the block where the stabbing happened. Officers said the daughter visited often, but they did not say whether she lived there.
Police said no weapon had been found as of Monday morning. Pace said investigators were still trying to determine what happened before the stabbing and what may have led to it. “There’s still a lot of questions to be answered with respect to this incident as to what transpired, what motivated the stabbing,” he said. The case was being handled as a homicide investigation. Police did not announce charges Monday morning because the suspected attacker had not been found.
The scene unfolded on a residential stretch of Westminster Avenue, where police said the victim ended up in front of a neighbor’s home. Investigators gave few details about the moments before officers arrived. They did not say who called 911, whether the victim spoke to anyone before she died or whether any neighbors saw the attack. Police also did not release information about the victim’s injuries beyond saying she had been stabbed multiple times.
Investigators were also trying to determine whether the daughter has children and where those children were after the stabbing. Pace said police were working to make sure the children were safe. Authorities did not say how many children may be involved, whether they were present during the attack or whether child welfare officials had been contacted. Police also did not say whether the daughter had prior contact with officers or whether there had been earlier reports involving the home.
The case added another homicide investigation to the city’s early summer caseload. Police described the stabbing as a domestic incident, but they had not released a fuller account of the family relationship or any history between the victim and the suspect. The victim’s death came after officers found her outside, not inside a home, a detail that investigators said fit with the belief that she was trying to get help after being attacked.
No arrest had been announced by late Monday morning. Police were expected to continue searching the area, checking possible addresses connected to the suspect and reviewing evidence from the block. Investigators had not released a description of the daughter, and they had not said whether surveillance video had been recovered. The Medical Examiner’s Office was expected to confirm the victim’s cause and manner of death after its review.
The search centered on basic questions that remained unanswered: who the suspect is, how she left the block, whether she was armed and what led to the stabbing. Pace said the department was still gathering information from the scene and from people who knew the family. Police said the investigation was active and that more details could be released once relatives are notified and detectives confirm the suspect’s identity.
As of Monday, June 1, the daughter remained at large and the victim had not been publicly identified. The next major step in the case is the release of the suspect’s name or an arrest announcement from Philadelphia police.
Author note: Last updated June 1, 2026.