Ben Hill Griffin Elementary teacher stabbed to death by son visiting from UF, sheriff says

A second-grade teacher at Ben Hill Griffin Elementary School in Frostproof was stabbed to death Saturday by her son as he arrived home from the University of Florida for a family gathering, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.

Sheriff Grady Judd, in a video posted to the department's Facebook page, said the killing happened about 2 p.m. Saturday in a quiet neighborhood south of Frostproof. He said Emmanuel Espinoza, 21, was a pre-med student at the University of Florida in Gainesville and had driven to his mother's home for a family gathering for a grandparent. He had called his mother, Elvia Espinoza, 46, and asked if he could stay with her.

When Elvia Espinoza answered the door, Judd said, Emmanuel Espinoza immediately started stabbing her.

"He stabbed her many times," Judd said in the video. "She ran from him. She was talking to a family member on the phone. And in addition to that, he stabbed her until she fell down and died."

Judd said after the stabbing, Emmanuel Espinoza called 911. He said when detectives talked to Espinoza, he confessed to the killing and said he'd wanted to kill his mother "for many many years because she got on my nerves."

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"Then we asked him, 'What's your relationship with your mother?' And he said, 'About an 8 out of 10,' that he really loved her. But she irritated him, and he made up his mind today on his way from Gainesville that he would murder her. And that's exactly what he did."

Judd said Elvia Espinoza is "well-loved by the community."

"Her family, friends, students, and colleagues at the school and with Polk County Public Schools are in our prayers," the Sheriff's Office said in the news release.

The Sheriff's Office said Emmanuel Espinoza was booked into the Polk County Jail on Saturday evening and will be charged with first-degree murder. As of Sunday morning, there was no word yet on a first appearance.

"It's a very sad day with an inexplicable, vicious murder," Judd said in the video.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: PCSO: Ben Hill Griffin Elementary teacher fatally stabbed by son