Video shows stalker attack ex-girlfriend and mother at Ponte Vedra restaurant
It was methodical, it was abrupt and it was brutal. Surveillance video at Mr. Chubby’s Wings, released by the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office with the victims’ approval, shows the calculated attack on 17-year-old Madison Schemitz as she and her mother tried to get to their car in the parking lot on June 3.
Spencer Ross Pearson, her former boyfriend at Ponte Vedra High School, had been harassing and stalking her and on this day showed up with ill intent. After stabbing her approximately 15 times and her mother and a good Samaritan, he sliced his own throat several times, the Sheriff’s Office arrest warrant said.
All survived, although Madison recently confirmed she remains paralyzed from the chest down. Pearson, 18, was released from the hospital on June 23 and booked into jail on charges of aggravated battery and two counts of attempted murder.
The nearly 14-minute video starts innocently enough with Madison and mother Jaclyn “Jacki” Roge meeting up with another mother and daughter at the Ponte Vedra Beach restaurant. They can be seen seated at a table chatting. A short time later Pearson, wearing a No. 32 T-shirt, shorts and ball cap, calmly walks in and sits down. He then casually makes a loop around the dining area and directly past Madison’s table without looking at them.
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Madison and her mother spot him and their eyes follow him across the room. They immediately begin to discuss Pearson's presence, and it’s clear they know something is up with him. Within a couple of minutes Madison, her mother and the other young friend begin to leave.
Pearson is still seen sitting and watching them as they exit the doorway. He rubs his hands together and follows them out. Once outside, he starts to charge Madison as she nears their car in the parking lot. He is swiftly on top of her, but the view is relatively far away and visually the knife and stabbing are mostly obstructed by the cars.
But her mother can be seen quickly coming to her aid and the two arriving patrons — friends Kennedy Armstrong and Jimmy Stepp — sprint toward them. Armstrong gets there first and tackles him, per witness accounts but not entirely visual on the video unless it's zoomed in. It all happens in seconds.
One of the men takes a shirt off and throws it to another presumably to be used to stop the bleeding and appears to be calling for help on his cellphone. Pearson, Madison and the mother aren’t in the picture for much of this as they’re blocked by their car and another.
Most of the customers don’t even know anything has happened, but a small crowd starts to gather until the ambulance arrives.
For the full unedited video go to youtu.be/MxnnL53M-dA.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Video shows stabbing of teen and mother at Ponte Vedra Beach restaurant
