ORLANDO, Fla. – A 27-year-old man stabbed and killed his mother and wounded his sister late Monday at an Orange County home, deputies said.
Adam Farney faces a charge of first-degree murder in the death of his mother, Lori Farney, 52. He faces an attempted murder charge in the stabbing of his sister, Autumn Farney, 23.
The domestic violence incident was reported at 10:53 p.m. in the 14000 block of Rensselaer Road, north of Lake Pickett Road.
Deputies said they were called to the home and found one woman dead on the back porch and another suffering from stab wounds.
"What happened was the sister of this family was in her bedroom and she heard some kind of commotion in the back yard patio. When she went out to explore, she found her brother, with a very sharp weapon standing over her mom who had significant injuries and she later died," Orange County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Jane Watrel said. "The sister confronted the sibling, her brother, and he began to stab her and she managed to injure him and ran to a neighbor's house who called us and called 911."
Neighbor Denton Smith told News 6 that Autumn Farney ran to his home after the attack.
Smith said his wife heard Autumn Farney banging on the door and called for his help.
“She called and I knew something was wrong. I could tell by the tone of her voice,” Smith said.
Smith’s wife let Autumn Farney into their home, and he saw the extent of her injuries.
“I could see that she was bleeding in a lot of places and she had many, many cuts on her,” Smith said.
Autumn Farney asked if Smith had a gun and said her mother was dead and that they were fighting, according to Smith.
Smith then went to Farney residence and retrieved Autumn's Farney's 2-year-old son.
Autumn Farney was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, deputies said.
"He did not give us any explanation as to what caused this; what precipitated this," Watrel said.
Smith said when he and Autumn Farney went to the home, he saw Adam Farney in the back yard. He was smoking a cigarette and was surrounded by blood.
"I looked at him and I said, 'What did you do?' He said, 'She assaulted me.' That's what he said so, I guess he meant Lori," Smith said. "I turned around and I seen Lori laying on the ground, fetal position, curled up so I knew, I knew she was gone and I'm telling you, she lost a lot of blood."
He described Lori Farney as a genuine woman who cared about her family.
"It's just a tragedy -- I mean an enormous tragedy, it's horrific," Smith said.
Deputies said Autumn Farney's son was in the home at the time of the attacks, but he was uninjured. The child did not witness the stabbings.
Other than once being held under the Baker Act, Adam Farney has no criminal history, deputies said.
Records show that Adam Farney had been in contact with law enforcement in the past, including a few weeks after the one year mark since the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando.
Adam Farney told officers that he believed a recording artist had planned another similar attack in St. Cloud because lyrics mentioned New Jersey and there is a Jersey Avenue in St. Cloud, the report said. The document noted that Adam Farney has a history of mental illness.
In October, Adam Farney told officers that Britney Spears had arranged videos on her YouTube page in a way that would reveal his address, documents show. He also claimed an anime said "Adam" in it and people were making cartoons about him.
Adam Farney was taken to a hospital, deputies said. He will be booked into the Orange County Jail later Tuesday on charges of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder, officials said.
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