Two women were killed and a third survived after separate public attacks in Palm Beach Gardens, Stuart and Martin County.
STUART, FL — Three women in South Florida were attacked by strangers in public over four months, leaving two dead and one nearly killed in a series of cases that stretched from a Palm Beach Gardens bookstore to a Martin County beach and a quiet neighborhood street.
Investigators say the cases are separate, but the timing and the random nature of the attacks have drawn intense attention across the region. The latest case, the fatal stabbing of a woman in her 70s while she walked her dog Thursday in Martin County, pushed the earlier cases back into view. In each attack, authorities said the suspect did not know the victim. All three cases remain at different stages of the criminal process, with murder or attempted murder charges already filed.
The first attack happened on Dec. 22, 2025, inside the Barnes & Noble at 11380 Legacy Ave. in Palm Beach Gardens. Police said officers were called at about 7:53 p.m. after reports of a stabbing and found Rita B. Loncharich, 65, wounded inside the store. She was taken to a hospital, where she later died. Investigators arrested Antonio R. Moore, 40, a short time later after witnesses said he fled the store. According to police and court records, Moore told officers he did not know Loncharich and described the stabbing as an unmotivated act. Police said he told investigators an internal buildup triggered a fight-or-flight response and that Loncharich was simply the closest person to him. A judge later ordered him held without bond on a first-degree murder charge.
Less than two months later, on the night of Feb. 12 into early Feb. 13, detectives said a woman walking alone on Tiger Shores Beach in Stuart was attacked from behind while talking on the phone with a relative. Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek said the man struck her, forced her into the water and tried to drown her during a struggle that lasted about three to five minutes. Budensiek said the woman fought back, punching him and grabbing his groin in an effort to break free. She eventually lost consciousness, and investigators said the attacker believed she was dead, took her phone and threw it into the ocean before leaving. The woman regained consciousness, walked more than a mile to Stuart Beach and found a deputy. Days later, Port St. Lucie police responding to a suicidal man were led to the suspect, whom authorities identified as Said Alexander Hernandez Gonzalez, 26. He was charged with attempted first-degree murder.
The third attack came Thursday afternoon, April 2, in the Southwood community in Martin County, where deputies were already responding to reports of a suspicious man knocking on doors and acting erratically. Sheriff’s officials said the suspect, later identified as Kersten Moses Francilus, 25, approached a woman in her 70s who was outside walking her dog and began stabbing her with a steak knife. Budensiek said a neighbor ran over to help and tried to pull the attacker off the woman as a responding deputy arrived. “Our deputy rounded the corner, hopped out of his car, pulled his gun out, and immediately our suspect disengaged,” Budensiek said in a public briefing. The victim was pronounced dead a short time later. Prosecutors told a judge Friday that Francilus stabbed her more than 16 times and was still attacking her when law enforcement reached the scene. The victim’s name had not been released by Friday.
The cases unfolded in different settings, but records and public statements show similar features that have unsettled residents: daylight or open public spaces, no known relationship between suspect and victim, and attacks that investigators described as sudden and unprovoked. In Palm Beach Gardens, the violence happened inside a large bookstore days before Christmas, with customers and workers nearby. At Tiger Shores Beach, the attack took place late at night along the shoreline, where the victim was left unconscious in the water. In the Martin County neighborhood, the killing happened outside homes where residents had already noticed something was wrong and had started calling 911. In that case, prosecutors said Francilus also tried to enter another home after knocking on a neighbor’s door. Officials have not identified any evidence linking the three suspects to each other or suggesting a common plan.
What is known about motive remains limited. Police in the Palm Beach Gardens case said Moore confessed but gave no prior connection to Loncharich and no specific grievance against her. In the Stuart beach case, investigators said Hernandez Gonzalez told officers the woman made him angry, though authorities have not described any encounter before the assault. In the Martin County killing, prosecutors said Francilus told officers he had killed the victim and could describe her only by saying she was Jewish. Authorities have not publicly explained whether bias will play a role in charging decisions in that case. Budensiek said Francilus had no known criminal history, and investigators said the steak knife used in the attack came from the home where he lived with family members. In all three matters, officials have marked major unanswered questions as they continue to review witness statements, physical evidence and defendant statements.
The legal paths ahead are clearer than the motives. Moore remains jailed without bond in Palm Beach County on a first-degree premeditated murder charge in the Barnes & Noble case. Hernandez Gonzalez is being held in Martin County on an attempted first-degree murder charge in the beach attack. Francilus was ordered held without bond Friday after his first court appearance on a first-degree premeditated murder charge, and a judge appointed a public defender to represent him. Investigators in the most recent killing are expected to continue collecting forensic evidence, completing witness interviews and preparing records for prosecutors. The release of the Martin County victim’s identity is also a likely next step once relatives are fully notified and paperwork is complete.
For residents, the cases have turned ordinary places into scenes tied to fear and disbelief. A bookstore aisle, a beach walk and a neighborhood dog walk were all routine moments before they became crime scenes. In Martin County, Budensiek said the neighbor who stepped in during Thursday’s attack likely disrupted even more violence before deputies arrived. The surviving beach victim’s actions also became central to the investigation, because her fight, collapse, long walk for help and eventual contact with a deputy gave detectives their first account of what happened. In Palm Beach Gardens, the brief cry that Moore told police he heard — “He stabbed me,” he said Loncharich yelled — captured the suddenness of the attack. Across the three cases, the common thread is not a shared suspect or location, but the abrupt way ordinary public life gave way to lethal or near-lethal violence.
As of Friday, April 3, all three suspects were in custody, two women were dead and one woman had survived an attack investigators say should have killed her. The next milestones are expected in court, where hearings, evidence filings and charging decisions will determine how each case moves forward.
Author note: Last updated April 3, 2026.