Suspect in Worcester Stabbing Had Previously Attacked Victim

The woman who was stabbed at a Worcester restaurant Wednesday night has died. 

The 31-year-old woman has not yet been identified. Police said that she was pronounced dead at an area hospital.

The victim's neighbors expressed their shock and sadness.

"I feel that this woman was running for her life," Octavia Kilpatrick, the victim's former neighbor, said.

Carlos Asencio, 28, of Derry, New Hampshire was arrested by police in the parking lot of O'Connor's. Asencio and the victim had previously dated, police said.

Asencio had previously been charged with breaking into the victim's home in Ayer on April 21 and attacking her with a stun gun, officials said. Following the incident, an arrest warrant was issued and authorities began to search for Asencio.

"It seemed like to was very horrific— blood on the doors, a scuffle had gone on in the house, and I guess the woman was hospitalized," Kilpatrick said.

Massachusetts authorities contacted Border Patrol in Canada and learned that Asencio has crossed the border and allegedly boarded a flight to Mexico.

Police then executed a search warrant on Asencio's home, and, as a result, obtained an arrest warrant for Asencio for breaking and entering in the nighttime to commit a felony, armed home invasion, assault with intent to murder, armed masked robbery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and assault and battery on a household or family member.

Over the next month investigators received information that led them to believe Asencio was still in Mexico.

Kilpatrick says the victim had New Hampshire plates on her car, and she was told she had moved to Ayer from New Hampshire to get away from Asencio, whom she had reportedly met on the dating app Tinder.

"This popped up and I said, 'He found her!' That's all I could think of, 'He found her. Oh my God!'" Kilpatrick said.

After the attack on April 21, the victim moved out of the apartment on East Main Street.

"He obviously was following her to know that she was in the restaurant," Kilpatrick said.

Twenty-six-year-old Allen Corson Jr. had just sat down to dinner with his parents when they heard the woman scream. Corson jumped up and tackled the man, but he was stabbed in the thigh during the scuffle.

"I thought he was beating her up, a man beating up a woman. And so I grabbed for the arm, and one of the men say, 'Hey, I have one of the knives.' And that's actually the first time I had known he had a knife," Corson said. "As I'm down on the ground with the guy, you know, I just feel this sensation in ... my left thigh."

The owners of O'Connor's said in a statement on Facebook, "It was a shocking and traumatic event and our condolences are with the victim and her family. We are overwhelmingly grateful to the police, our guests and our staff who valiantly responded to help her and apprehend the assailant."

Asencio is in custody and faces several charges including murder. It is unclear if he has an attorney.

An investigation into Asencio's reentry into the U.S. is under investigation by federal authorities.