Meth-Fueled Woman Stabs Senior with Pitchfork

A 19-year-old woman was arrested for attempted murder Sunday after she stabbed an elderly woman with a pitchfork at a residence on Gato Avenue in Goleta.

Madeline Shaw of Santa Maria was visiting with her family at a nearby restaurant when she began exhibiting “disruptive behavior,” according to Sheriff’s spokesperson Kelly Hoover. She was believed to be under the influence of methamphetamine.

A little while later at about 2:00 p.m., a resident on the 5600 block of Gato Avenue heard a noise on his roof and ran outside to discover Shaw holding a pitchfork that she had taken from his yard. She was waving it in a threatening manner, so the man ran inside and locked his door, Hoover said.

From there, Shaw ran inside another residence and grabbed a cell phone from a woman in the house. The woman sought to grab it back from her, but Shaw ran out the door and toward a third house.

Shaw confronted an elderly resident who was getting into her car in her driveway. Shaw verbally threatened the woman before stabbing her in the arm and the stomach with the pitchfork, Hoover said. The woman suffered superficial wounds and did not request to be transported to the hospital.

Shaw took off from there, stealing a bike from the elderly woman’s house. Sheriff’s deputies apprehended her a few minutes later at a 7-11 located on the corner of Hollister and Nectarine avenues. She was on probation for a previous burglary charge, Hoover said.

In addition to attempted murder, Shaw is charged with resisting arrest, burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, and entering a non-commercial dwelling without permission. She was booked in County Jail without bail. She is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday morning.