Anderson, SC: Woman Stabbed, Killed In Anderson Apartment

Estaban Weber Charged; Mother Witnesses Stabbing Aftermath

Mandy Gaither, WYFF News 4 Reporter
POSTED: 6:13 am EDT August 11, 2010
UPDATED: 6:59 am EDT August 11, 2010
ANDERSON, SC -- An Upstate mother told police her son stabbed his girlfriend Tuesday night. Now, that man faces murder charges.
Police say Mauricio Estaban Weber, 30, stabbed Patrice Jones, 21, of Seattle, Wash., several times in the neck. She died inside an apartment on Country Club Lane in Anderson.
Weber is charged with murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.
His mother, Astrid Weber, who lives at the apartment, told News 4 that her son had been drinking when the two started to fight.
"I just can't believe my son did this. I just can't believe it," she said, crying.
The woman told a tearful story about how her son and Jones arrived on Sunday for a visit from Seattle. When the couple started fighting Tuesday night, Weber said she ran to a neighbor's apartment to call for help. When she returned, she said her son had stabbed his girlfriend with a kitchen knife to the throat.

"When I looked, I seen her feet, ya know? Her legs. And I saw he just beat her in the head, ya know? She just passed out," Weber said. "When I looked she had knife right here, ya know," pointing to her throat. "Shaking, ya know, and that's when i just lost it," she said, sobbing.
"She was screaming, crying, saying 'help me,' and I thought something really bad had done happen to her," Weber said.
Weber did manage to call her daughter, Danielle Leslie, who rushed to the apartment.
Leslie said her brother has been in and out of prison most of his life and has a history of violence.
"I had just met this girl Sunday," said Danielle Leslie, Weber's sister. "She was really nice and I thought everything was alright because she seemed to be happy and just all the sudden this happened, so I was just shocked."
Anderson Police Sgt. Tony Tilley said they do have information that Weber was wanted out of Columbia area and Moncks Corner, but he was not sure of the charges.
A bond hearing is scheduled for Weber on Wednesday at 8 a.m. in Anderson City Court.