Woman stabbed by ex-boyfriend, son comes to rescue
By Elizabeth Billips Associate Editor

An 11-year-old may have saved his mother's life when he took his younger siblings and fled from their Highway 23 home where she was being beaten and stabbed by an ex-boyfriend.

According to Capt. Frankie Parker of the Burke County Sheriff's Office, Estella Lee and her three young children were held at knifepoint early Tuesday morning by 34-year-old Tony Brown, a Waynesboro man she'd formerly had a relationship with.

Around 2 a.m., Brown called the victim on his cell phone and lured her into another part of the house where he was lying in wait with a steak knife.

"He said he was going to kill her, then kill himself," Capt. Parker said. "He'd said he'd planned out the whole thing."

Brown reportedly attacked the victim with the steak knife, cutting her twice on the hand and arm and stabbing her on her shoulder.

"They weren't life threatening wounds, but they might have been if the knife hadn't broken," Capt. Parker said.

The attack stopped when the oldest child took his siblings and ran to a relative's house for help. Brown pocketed $455 in cash, then drove away in the victim's vehicle.

According to Capt. Parker, Brown is wanted on a number of charges including aggravated assault, cruelty to children, armed robbery and possession of a knife by a convicted felon.

Anyone with information about the stabbing or his whereabouts is asked to call investigators at 706-554- 2133.