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Coral Springs Man Accused Of Killing Mother

CORAL SPRINGS (CBS4) - A Coral Springs man is charged with first degree murder after police say he fatally stabbed his mother outside the home they shared along Riverside Drive.

Dee Jony Etienne, 30, is being held with no bond at the Broward County Main Jail.

He was arrested several hours after a witness called 911 to report a man attacking a woman outside a Coral Springs duplex.

"She said 'help me'. She said it in Creole though. 'Help me. I'm dying. Help me'. And I called the cops," witness Abnel Benjamin said.

Benjamin lives across the street from the home where Joceleine Pericles, 53, was stabbed multiple times Saturday night.

"It was crazy," Benjamin said. "I was shaking when I see the girl on the floor."

On Sunday afternoon, crime scene investigators were still processing the scene.

Blood stains mark the spot where Benjamin says he saw a shirtless man attacking the woman. He said the man was trying to drag the woman back inside the front door.

"I think he don't want nobody to see," Benjamin recalled. "She's on the floor like 'help me, help me. I'm dying'."

According to the police report, Benjamin called police.

"When our officers arrived she still was conscious and she was asking officers for help," Coral Springs Police Lt. Joe McHugh said.

Pericles was transported to North Broward Medical Center where she later died.

Police say her son fled the scene. Investigators said witnesses told them they saw Etienne run south on Riverside Drive toward a wooded area at the corner of Sample Road.

The search for Etienne included the Broward Sheriff's Office helicopter, the SWAT team, and the Coral Springs K9 unit.

"The assistance of the BSO helicopter was critical to us," Lt. McHugh said. "They were able to identify him inside the wooded area with their infrared system which ultimately is why we deployed our K9 officers as well as our SWAT unit to take him in to custody."

In addition to the murder charge, Etienne is also facing a charge of resisting arrest without violence.

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