The Pembroke Pines man accused of stabbing his wife to death last week while their five minor children were in the home told police he went “mad” during an argument and stabbed his wife with a kitchen knife, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Jorge Jose Sancler, 62, and his wife were in the kitchen preparing food for their children about 6 a.m. Feb. 8 when they started arguing. He grabbed a knife, the affidavit said, and one of their children heard his mother scream.
Their 15-year-old son told police he thought he was dreaming when he heard her first scream, but he heard her shout again, “He is going to kill me!” He ran out of his bedroom to find his father straddling his mother, stabbing her with the large kitchen knife, the affidavit said.
The teen intervened and pushed his father off, and Sancler dropped the knife as he fell, according to the affidavit. Sancler grabbed a second knife and started moving toward his son. The teen disarmed Sancler again and punched him to try to subdue him, but it didn’t work.
Woman dies after being stabbed by husband in Pembroke Pines home, police say
He held his father in a headlock, took him to the garage and locked him in. The teen’s mother made it to the hallway in the home, where she collapsed. The teen then called 911, the affidavit said. The teen ran between checking on his mother and checking on his younger siblings, two 9-year-olds, a 7-year-old and a 3-year-old.
SWAT forced their way into the garage of the home in the 1400 block of Lacosta Drive West shortly after 8 a.m. and found Sancler lying in a pool of blood, holding a machete. He dropped the machete at the officers’ command, the affidavit said. He had cut himself multiple times on his wrists, forearms and neck area with a boxcutter.
Sancler was taken to Memorial Hospital West, where he was sedated and intubated. He stayed in the hospital for five days before he was taken to jail, the affidavit said.
In an interview with officers at the hospital, the affidavit said Sancler said “of course” he remembered attacking his wife and that he cut himself while he was in the garage but couldn’t remember what he used.
Man who allegedly stabbed wife to death in Pembroke Pines identified
An autopsy determined that both of the woman’s lungs were punctured and she would not have instantly died, which corroborated her son’s account that she moved to the hallway before collapsing, the affidavit said. Surveillance cameras in the home also recorded Sancler and his wife in the kitchen before the alleged attack.
Sancler’s wife was pronounced dead at Memorial Regional Hospital shortly before 7 a.m.
Sancler was held in the North Broward Bureau as of Thursday night. He faces one count of second-degree murder and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, jail records say.