A New Jersey mother stabbed in her home by a stranger who was allegedly high on mushrooms in July 2013 desperately tried to escape her crazed attacker and her haunting words before he thrust a knife into her chest. I talked about what happened.
In July 2013, Donna Onciaco opened a screen door to let her cat in in Colts Neck, New Jersey, when she encountered 16-year-old Brennan Doyle, who was trying to cut the screen with a knife. Onsiako reflected on the attack in a new interview on CBS’ “48 Hours” over the weekend.
“He tried to slam the door,” his mother said. “He stuck a knife in the opening and I cut his finger so I immediately let go of the door and he barged in.”
The man allegedly lunged at her and slashed her on the cheek and neck. Onsiako said he grabbed her weapon and cut his own hand in the process. She said her legs began to give out and she fell to the floor, where her attacker continued to stab her.
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Brennan Doyle, now 27, was convicted of the attempted murder and carjacking of Donna Onsiaco in 2013. (New Jersey Department of Corrections)
Doyle then rummaged through her purse, demanding that she turn over her wallet, car keys and lighter before returning to her bleeding body.
“He said, ‘You’re dead-‘ and put the knife in my chest,” she said in an interview.
The attackers fled, and Onsiako managed to drag himself upstairs, grabbed his charging cellphone and called 911. He was able to give the dispatcher a description of the man before he lost consciousness.
”[My daughter] “Kirsten might come home and find me,” Onsiako said in an interview, adding, “I don’t want her to experience the horror that I just went through or any other level of horror of finding me dead there.” I didn’t want them to go through that.”
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A photo of Donna Onciaco, who was attacked by Brennan Doyle on July 6, 2013. (Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office)
She was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, where she underwent a seven-hour surgery. Onsiako lost three-quarters of the blood in her body, and her doctors later told her that a large knife had shot her through the heart to within the margin of a dime, according to CBS.
Shortly after Onciaco was stabbed, police received a call from a Taco Bell about eight miles away to report a young blond man wearing a backpack was banging on windows and walking through the drive-thru with a knife. . The description matched the one Ms. Onsiako gave to dispatchers, and police found her abandoned car behind a nearby movie theater.
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Donna Onciaco said that when she thought she would find her daughter Kirsten dead on the floor, she crawled up the stairs to get the phone and call for help, despite losing a lot of blood. (Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office)
However, Doyle was finally arrested several months later after police used DNA left in the stolen car to link him to the attack.
After Onsiaco created a sketch of the assailant based on a description from a Taco Bell employee who said he resembled the suspect, police released it to the public. Within a few days, Doyle’s cousin called and said her relative looked like the one in the sketch, and provided a recent photo.
Doyle had never been arrested, came from a wealthy family, and was a student-athlete on the wrestling and hockey teams. However, police had previously been called to the Colts Neck home where he lived with his parents due to domestic disputes. Just weeks before Onsiako’s attack, police had seized a knife from Doyle after he got into an argument with his brother.
A Taco Bell employee who saw a man matching the description of Donna Onciaco’s attacker gave the depiction to a sketch artist who created this rendering, which Onciaco said matched her memory of the man. . (Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office)
After Onsiako was attacked, a large knife was found on the roof of a bowling alley in the same shopping center where Onsiako’s car was found. Police determined it was from the same set of knives taken from Doyle’s home.
When Doyle was arrested, he told police he had taken hallucinogenic “magic” mushrooms before the attack and had lost touch with reality.
“That night, the drugs turned me into a monster,” Doyle said during his 2015 trial. “Really sorry.”
Doyle was initially charged with six crimes, including attempted murder and carjacking. He initially pleaded not guilty. A judge decided to try him as an adult, and his family posted bail of $760,000, CBS reported.
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He was sentenced to 15 years in prison and must serve 85 percent of that sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
Doyle apologized to the victims in a statement to 48 Hours after he was released from prison.
“My actions have cruelly changed her life. She should never have taken on the pain and suffering I have caused her,” he said. “What happened to her was completely my fault, not hers. All I can do is wake up every day guided by my own unforgivable actions and give myself the dignity that my 16-year-old self didn’t have.” All you have to do is act with that in mind. I’m sorry. “
