Sante Fe Community College Employee Dies In Stabbing Attack
(Florida)
A mother of four was stabbed to death the morning of October 27 in broad
daylight at her busy SFCC office. The suspect, her estranged husband, escaped
the scene .
Denise White, 35, of 2930 SW 23rd Terrace, Apt. 1402, was stabbed in office No.
241 at the Employment Training Center on the second floor of Building R. Her
husband, Samuel White, 36, entered her office in violation of a restraining
order filed against him during their separation, said Jim Troiano, Alachua
County Sheriff's Office spokesman.
In the office, Samuel White accosted his wife, and two of her coworkers tried
to restrain him, Troiano said. Troiano said Samuel White then broke free and
stabbed her an unknown number of times.
No other injuries were reported in the attack.
The husband, described as a black man with a muscular build, then fled from the
office and was last seen driving away in a green 1992 two-door Toyota, license
tag number A31-2DH. Police assume he fled with the bloody knife because they
have yet to recover the weapon, Troiano said.
A 911 phone call alerted police to the crime at 10:18 a.m., and the victim was
taken to Shands at AGH. She died there at 11:32 a.m., Troiano said.
SFCC police secured the crime scene and searched for evidence, but they called
the sheriff's office to assist in forensics, SFCC spokesman Larry Keen said.
All local law enforcement agencies are searching for the husband.
Keen said Denise White was a part-time employee of Temp Force, a temporary
staffing service with a Gainesville office, but was placed at SFCC's Employment
Training Center four months ago.
She worked as a job trainer with disadvantaged students, many on welfare, and
helped them stay in college, Keen said. Her job was to regularly check how the
students were doing and help find them jobs.
"Her role was to help people to a better life," Keen said.
"That's what she did."
A trauma response team of professional counselors at SFCC is serving people who
were disturbed by events they saw.
Keen estimated six or seven people met with the team, including the two who
restrained Samuel White before he slipped from their grasp and stabbed his
wife.
SFCC Police and ASO deputies combed bushes, lawns and ponds searching for the
murder weapon or other evidence.
The U.S. flag nearby was lowered to half-staff.
Entrances to the second-floor offices, decorated for Halloween, were blocked
off with yellow crime-scene tape and guarded by officers wearing dark
sunglasses.
Mitch Clenney, an employee with Gay Construction working nearby, said he heard
commotion at about 10:20 a.m.
"I heard yelling, hollering," he said. "I don't know what was
going on."
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Latest On Santa-Fe Murder
10/28/2004
Police have caught the husband suspected of killing his wife at Santa Fe
Community College.
The man who allegedly stabbed his wife, Denise White, while she was working at
Santa Fe Community College yesterday morning is now in custody. Police were
able to catch and arrest Samuel White this morning. White was nearly 700 miles
away from Gainesville, in Virginia, when police arrested him after responding
to a call saying that one of two men who was traveling with White was acting
erratically. Heroin was found in White's vehicle, which is the likely reason
for the strange behavior of White's companion.
Alachua County Sheriff's Spokesman Jim Troiano says Samuel White allegedly
stabbed his wife at Santa Fe Community College and then fled. Although White
was arrested in the company of two other men, he is the only suspect in Denise
White's murder.
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