A 27-year-old mother was fatally stabbed in a home in Dumfries, Virginia, on Sunday, and a woman she was friends with is suspected in the crime, police say.
Christina Lanette Smith, of Woodbridge, was killed, Prince William County police said Monday morning.
Rollanda Latavia Garrett, 34, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder for the alleged attack in her home.
Officers responded to a home in the 4000 block of White Haven Drive at about 8:10 p.m. Sunday to investigate a stabbing.
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"It's hard. I mean, the house is not going to be the same anymore with her gone," Smith's stepmother Felicia Shands said.
Smith's family said Christina and her boyfriend came to the house to discuss some sort of dispute with Garrett and her boyfriend.
A next-door neighbor said she and her husband heard the commotion that erupted.
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"We heard the thundering noise … just people talking real loud and like angry," Juanita said.
Garrett grabbed a knife and stabbed Smith in the neck, her family said.
A witness tried to save the victim, who was pronounced dead on the scene.
A homicide investigation is ongoing.
Smith’s family said her killing seems unreal. They said she was scheduled to start a new job on Monday.
"It's tough, it's really tough right now," Smith's father Hubert Smith said.
"She would do stuff for people just out of the kindness of her heart," Shands said. "She loved her kids. She loved her family, you know, and that’s why it's hard."
Garrett was arrested and is being held without bond. A court date is pending.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
