Background: The home in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, where the victim was attacked (KOCO/ YouTube). Inset: Ronaldo Zavala (Pottawatomie County Sheriff”s Office).
In a disturbing incident in Oklahoma, a man has been accused of repeatedly stabbing a former co-worker outside her residence due to an alleged obsession with her.
Ronaldo Zavala, age 24, is facing multiple charges including aggravated assault and battery, assault and battery while masked or disguised, and domestic assault and battery with a deadly weapon, according to records from the Pottawatomie County jail. This violent episode occurred on Saturday.
The attack took place around 1 a.m. when an 18-year-old woman was returning to her home, enjoying a burger. As she paused on her front porch, an individual wearing a mask approached and attacked her, stabbing her in both the neck and wrist, as reported by the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office.
During the frenzied assault, the masked assailant reportedly said, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” while inflicting 14 stab wounds, according to Captain Jared Strand of the sheriff’s office, who spoke to Oklahoma City’s CBS affiliate KWTV. The commotion awakened the victim’s mother and brother, with the brother rushing to aid his sister.
In his attempt to save her, the brother was also stabbed. However, his intervention seemed to frighten the attacker, causing him to flee the scene before deputies could arrive at the remote location.
Upon arrival, investigators quickly identified Zavala as the suspect, thanks to evidence gathered at the crime scene. Authorities are continuing to piece together the details of this alarming assault.
“He was just obsessed with this female and she had no interest whatsoever, and it just drove him to the brink of committing this crime,” Strand told regional ABC affiliate KOCO. “He went so far as to sending unsolicited DoorDash orders, different gifts and things like that that were not wanted.”
Zavala and the victim had worked together at an area movie theater, authorities said, until she made a complaint about him for his “obsessive” behavior and he was fired. He proceeded to stalk the woman, and on the night of the attack, he allegedly hid as he waited for her to walk to her door.
The woman’s brother — who suffered minor injuries as he helped his sister — is credited with saving her life. She was listed as being in critical but stable condition when authorities announced Zavala’s arrest on Saturday.
