Vigil for mother stabbed to death by her son in Brandon, family hopes for death penalty

BRANDON, Florida. – Family, friends and neighbors gathered with roses and candles Wednesday to remember a mother who was stabbed to death by her own son.

John Aylor, 37, is accused of breaking into his mother's home on Monday to steal items for drug money. They got into an argument and he stabbed 64-year-old Julie Aylor to death.

Many gathered outside the house where she was killed to remember her and show their support.

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“My mother was a good mother. She was brutally attacked by her own son, the person she loved. I mean, I can only imagine what was going on in her mind. Did she say stop? Help? Then why didn't he stop and help?” said Kristina Blair, the victim's daughter and the suspect's sister. “My mother was stabbed multiple times. From the front, from the back. My mother tried to get away from him… Despite all of that, my mother was there for him through thick and thin. She loved her son.”

Nevertheless, the family wants justice and hopes that their brother will receive the maximum punishment.

“I want the death penalty. I want the death penalty. I will not stop until he gets the death penalty,” Blair said.

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The family said they had long viewed him as a threat and tried to apply for public funds to help him. He was arrested three dozen times and convicted under the Baker Act. Now he is charged with murder.

The suspect was brought to court for the first time since the fatal stabbing. He was wearing a suicide suit three days after the attack.

His detention hearing is scheduled for Friday, when the state will present evidence to keep him behind bars. The family plans to attend, although they said it will be hard to hear the gruesome details of his attack.

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