WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — A man was arrested after police said he stabbed a woman at her home in Winter Haven Wednesday night.
The Winter Haven Police Department said officers were called to the home on Avenue Q NW around 8:30 p.m. when they received a report about the incident.
During an investigation, they learned that the victim had just arrived home after a trip to the store when Michael Laverro Patterson, 54, appeared from behind a building. He asked the victim, "Why can't we talk? Why did you stop talking to me?"
According to police, when the victim realized Patterson was agitated, she attempted to calm him down and asked if he would let her place her things inside her home. But when she tried to put the key into the lock, Patterson said, "I really want to hurt you, b****, I really want to hurt you. I want to kill you."
Police said the victim then felt punches on the left side of the back of her neck and shoulder, immediately feeling blood. When she screamed for help, Patterson walked away.
Officers searched the area and found Patterson at the top of a bridge on the Chain of Lakes Trail near Martin Luther King Boulevard. He was detained but refused to speak with police.
The victim knew Patterson and had been previously talking to him over the phone until he started to become verbally abusive, leading her to cut off communication. When she stopped talking to him, police said Patterson began to follow the victim home, where she had him trespassed in January 2025.
He had not returned to the home until this incident, but had been at her workplace.
Patterson was arrested and charged with one count of second-degree attempted murder and one count of trespass after warning.
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