[News] Asian woman, 64, is stabbed to death while walking her dogs in California

An Asian-American woman was stabbed to death while out walking her dogs in Southern California.

 

The incident occurred at around 7.30am local time on Saturday, April 3, in Riverside’s La Sierra neighborhood, KTLA reported.

 

The victim, Ke Chieh Meng, 64, suffered multiple stab wounds to her abdomen and was left bleeding on the ground. She was transported to a local hospital and pronounced dead.

 

The alleged attacker, 23-year-old Darlene Stephanie Montoya, was arrested near the scene and is now facing murder charges.

 

The suspect, Darlene Stephanie Montoya.

 

Meng’s death came after a string of random attacks against Asian Americans.

 

However, police said they do not believe that the stabbing was racially motivated.

 

‘There was nothing to suggest that the victim was attacked due to her ethnicity,’ Riverside Police Department spokesman Ryan Railsback told the New York Post.

 

Montoya was described as a ‘transient’ with a history of drug use and brushes with law enforcement.

 

‘We’re going to try to research [the suspect’s] drug-abuse history and her mental-health history,’ Railsback said.

 

He added that investigators are ‘not closing the door on anything’.

 

Saturday marked Montoya’s second arrest in less than a week after she was detained on March 30 for allegedly attacking a white woman with a skateboard at a shopping center.

 

She was charged with assault with a deadly weapon in the earlier incident but was released without bail due to COVID-19 restrictions, according to the Post.

 

Montoya was booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center on suspicion of murder, a weapons violation, and being under the influence of an illegal substance.

 

She is being held without bail, according to jail records.