After dragging her mom by the hair into their Lake Worth apartment, Ferna Quesner savagely beat her and cut out her eyes with a kitchen knife, deputies said.
"I was trying to kill the cat, and she is the cat," Quesner allegedly told deputies, according to a Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office arrest report.
She also allegedly said "I don't want to go to prison," but deputies took her to thePalm Beach County Jail, where she remained in custody Thursday.
Now, Blonia Quesner, 59, is fighting for her life after the horrifying July 4 attack, and Ferna Quesner faces a charge of attempted first-degree murder.
It's not known what sparked the brutal assault, but court records suggest Ferna Quesner, 34, has battled mental health issues in the past.
Between November 2001 and March 2013, according to Palm Beach Countycourt records, Ferna Quesner has been the subject of four court hearings under the Florida Mental Health Act, commonly known as the Baker Act, which allows for people to be involuntarily committed for a mental health examination. The 2001 case was dismissed before the hearing, according to court records.
The night of the alleged attack on her mother, neighbors in the 4500 block of Gulfstream Road in unincorporated Lake Worth started calling 911 at about 7:38 p.m., deputies said.
From their apartment across the street, a 39-year-old man and his 14-year-old daughter saw Ferna Quesner pulling her mother by her hair into the apartment while also carrying a white pole. The mother was struggling "but she was overpowered," the report stated, citing the witnesses.
The door closed and screaming could be heard, deputies said. Ferna Quesner came back outside after about eight minutes, her shirt covered in blood.
Deputies arrived to find an appalling scene.
"The victim's eyes were discovered on the kitchen floor near a knife and a large pool of blood," a Sheriff's Office deputy wrote in the arrest report.
Deputies found the white pole, which appeared to be a broken lamp stand, and a bloodied 10-pound circular weight on the dining table. The walls and ceiling were spattered with blood, the report said.
Blonia Quesner, lying face down and unconscious in the doorway, was hospitalized with abroken nose, two broken forearms and severe head trauma including bleeding in the brain, the report said. She was in critical condition Thursday, according to Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Teri Barbera.
Ferna Quesner also was arrested on a simple battery charge on Feb. 23, 2012, according to a Boynton Beach police arrest report, after an argument with a roommate on Dec. 29, 2011, ended with the roommate being pushed to the ground. The charge was dismissed on April 23, 2012, according to Palm Beach County court records.
Staff researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.
bsclarkson@tribune.com, 561-243-6609or Twitter @brettclarkson_