Silke Jasso
Police responding to the Heritage Oaks Mobile Home Park in Pensacola, Fla., were horrified to meet the first two witnesses to the attempted murder of a young mother: her own two children, aged 4 and 5.
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Neighbors called to report screaming in a mobile home where Janel Charlene Francis, 45, had killed her son Devan Francis, 18, and attempted to cut the throat of daughter Gabrielle Torrence, 24. Francis was found dead in the trailer in a back bedroom, while Torrence was bleeding out in the street in front of the trailer. She was being attended to by neighbors when police showed up.
Witnesses told police the children had blood from one or both of the victims on their feet and clothes. Police conducted separate interviews with the children, learning that Janel Francis attempted to kill their mother in front of them by “poking her in the neck with a knife.”
The two children were interviewed separately by police, and told officers that Janel Francis had killed their mom, Torrence, by “poking her in the neck with a knife.” Those children are now staying with their great-grandmother, who also lives in the mobile home complex.
The Pensacola News Journal reports her first court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 16. She is being held on $1.5 million bond.
