An Orange County man is behind bars, charged with attempted murder in the stabbing of his pregnant girlfriend.
Frank Defulgentis, 43, was taken into custody in the early morning hours of November 2, after deputies say, he stabbed Diane Palma, at least 12 times with a kitchen steak knife.
Deputies arrived at Defulgentis’ home in the 9700 block of Winder Trail, around 3:30 a.m., to find Palma walking down the driveway toward the street, covered in blood and followed closely by a man, later identified as Defulgentis.
After Defulgentis was subdued, he excited uttered: “I wasn’t trying to kill her.”
Palma told investigators that Defulgentis started attacking her after she “told him she was no longer moving in with him,” according to the arrest affidavit. During the attack, she said she screamed for help from another housemate, Glen Finnerty, but to no avail.
Finnerty told investigators that he peeked through the door, saw lots of blood in the living area and was too scared to come out of his room.
As Palma fled the bedroom room from the attack, she managed to dial 911 on a cell phone, not knowing if the call went through or not, she told investigators.
A quick thinking 911 trainee Operator Katherine Perron and her trainer, Operator Natasza Wieczorek, who handled Palma’s 911 call that night, were able to alert deputies, using technology to locate the cell phone call.
Defulgentis was charged with attempted first degree murder and booked into the Orange County Jail, without bond.
