Windgap, PA: Police say Windgap man stabbed wife, choked two children

By Rick Stouffer
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, March 8, 2010

A Windgap woman died from stab wounds inflicted Sunday in a domestic dispute that left her husband and two children injured, police said.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's office identified the woman as Mara Knox, 41. She was pronounced dead about 3 p.m. at Allegheny General Hospital, North Side. An autopsy was scheduled for today.

The dispute involved Knox and her husband, whom police would not identify. Allegheny County property records identify Anthony and Mara Jo Knox as owners of the home where the incident occurred in the 3800 block of Haven Street in Windgap.

The man was in critical condition after undergoing surgery at Allegheny General. Two children belonging to the couple, a 7-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl, were being treated at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh in Lawrenceville, police said.

Police said it appears the father stabbed Knox multiple times and choked the children during the dispute. Charges will be filed, police said.

It remains unclear how the father received his stab wounds.

"We still are trying to gather information to make a determination if the male's stab wounds were self-inflicted," Pittsburgh police Cmdr. Thomas Stangrecki said at the scene. Mara Knox had been stabbed several times in the torso, he said.

At 12:50 p.m., emergency dispatchers received a call from a young boy reporting a stabbing at the Haven Street home. The boy ran out of a garage to the responding officers when they arrived at the home.

"When officers arrived, they found a male and female (inside), each with multiple stab wounds," Stangrecki said.

The 13-year-old girl fled the home during the dispute and ran several blocks to a home on Harlow Street, Stangrecki said.

Darlene Janus, who lives across Haven Street from the residence, said she didn't know anything was wrong yesterday afternoon until ambulances began arriving.

"I thought it might have been the wife's mother since she's staying with them, because she's very sick," Janus said. "They're a real nice family, never any problems, always quiet ever since they moved in about five or six years ago."

Rick Stouffer can be reached at rstouffer@tribweb.com or 412-320-7853.