Elderly woman killed in California stabbing spree that hurt 2 others, including PG&E worker

A recent parolee convicted of attempted murder is accused of stabbing victims multiple times through a Northern California neighborhood in an attack that killed an elderly woman and left two others — including a Pacific Gas and Electric employee — injured, police said Tuesday.

Joseph James Stephens Jenkins, 34, faces charges of murder, attempted murder and violating his parole after the attack Monday morning in Ione, Amador County, where he lived. He is being held without bail in the Amador County Jail in Jackson. The victims didn’t know each other and Jenkins didn’t know them, said Ione Police Chief John Alfred during a news conference Tuesday.

“The incident appears to be a random act of violence,” Alfred told reporters hours after the incident unfolded in the sleepy Gold Country town of 5,300.

Officers received reports of a stabbing just before 8:45 a.m. Monday on Violet Lane in Ione, Alfred said. The person killed was identified by family members as Lori Owens, a 63-year-old Ione resident; two victims were in stable condition, Alfred said.

Jenkins was released from parole and received treatment at Atascadero State Hospital earlier this year. He was released in July and came back to Ione, Alfred added.

In 2011, Jenkins stabbed a then-41-year-old man in the Sutter Creek Basin, severely wounding him, according to reports from the Stockton Record at the time.

The PG&E employee was attacked while on duty, the utilities said in a statement.

“The safety of the public, our employees and contractors is PG&E’s most important responsibility,” the statement said.