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Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Manny Garcia Alcantara, 54, was arrested last night and charged with attempted murder after allegedly stabbing his 85-year-old mother multiple times and then pushing her Life Alert button before leaving with her phone and car to “smoke crack.”
At about 1:59 p.m. yesterday, Gainesville Fire Rescue responded to a Life Alert call and found the victim lying in her hallway with “numerous” puncture wounds to her chest. She also reportedly had deep lacerations to her hands that were consistent with defensive wounds. She was transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Gainesville Police Department Officers responded, conducted a security sweep of the home, and reportedly found a knife in a bedroom. Officers also reported that Alcantara’s car was in the driveway, and the victim’s car was missing.
An officer called the victim’s emergency contact and learned that the victim’s vehicle was normally parked in the driveway. The emergency contact also reportedly said that Alcantara has a “significant mental health history” and that Alcantara had told him the previous day that he was completely out of money and couldn’t pay his bills. The emergency contact said that when he’d received the Life Alert notification, he had tried to call Alcantara but couldn’t reach him.
The officer reported that there have been previous calls for service involving Alcantara and his mother going back to 2019, including a 2023 incident in which Alcantara stabbed himself in the stomach.
Officers put out an alert for the victim’s vehicle and reportedly found Alcantara leaving his apartment complex in his mother’s vehicle. Alcantara reportedly agreed voluntarily to accompany officers to the station to be interviewed.
Post Miranda, Alcantara reportedly said he is unemployed and all his credit cards are maxed out; he said he spent all the money in his mother’s bank account on his drug habit. Alcantara reportedly said he had seen his mother that morning, but he was vague about the details. When he was told that his mother survived, he reportedly said, “She made it?” and said he pushed her Life Alert button before he left because otherwise he knew she would die. He reportedly said he was angry with his mother because he is out of money and she refused to buy him a new car. He reportedly said that he “hurt her so bad.” He reportedly said he had stabbed her with a knife he took from the kitchen and that he wanted her to die.
Alcantara allegedly left the knife in the bedroom and took his mother’s phone and vehicle. He said he went to his apartment to wash his hands and “smoke crack,” then planned to go to Tampa to gamble in a casino.
Alcantara has four felony convictions (one violent) and one misdemeanor conviction (one violent). He is being held without bond pending a hearing on a State motion to hold him without bond until trial.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
