Woman stabbed in KCK hopes sentencing brings relief

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - A woman brutally stabbed in Kansas City, Kansas, while walking home from her volunteer job more than a year ago expects to finally see her attacker go to prison.

John Eugene McGriff is set to be sentenced on Wednesday after reaching a plea deal. He was accused of stabbing Stephanie Perez soon after stabbing and killing his own father at a senior living home on July 18, 2023.

Perez is 47 years old but lives with her parents as a dependent adult with special needs. She and her mother said Tuesday that they are anxious to get the final word from a judge about his sentence.

Perez had an entire community rally around her soon after McGriff stabbed her repeatedly in the face, neck and shoulder as she was walking home from a volunteer job at a church a block from home in the 3600 block of Metropolitan Avenue. Witnesses directed police to him nearby at 37th Street and Strong Avenue. Police shot McGriff after they said he advanced on arresting officers with a “six-inch fixed doubled-sided blade palm knife.”

Immediately after that, the property manager at a senior living center across the street ed police to report they had just found McGriff’s father, Samuel McGriff, dead in his room in a pool of blood. An autopsy showed he had been stabbed multiple times in his chest, back, side, head and both hands. It determined his death was caused by three stab wounds to his left lung. A court-charging document indicated the father and son were roommates.

THE COURT CASE

Initially, McGriff faced four charges: second-degree murder for killing his father, aggravated battery and mistreatment of a dependent adult for stabbing Stephanie, and aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer.

In August, he reached a plea agreement in which he pleaded guilty to the first two charges in exchange for having the second two charges dropped.

That came after months of waiting for mental health evaluations. The first one led to a ruling that he was competent to stand trial. McGriff’s attorney requested an additional evaluation to pursue a defense case that he was not mentally competent at the time of the crime. In May, he withdrew that defense and began working on a plea deal.

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The plea agreement filed in court indicated that at sentencing both the prosecution and defense will recommend “the aggravated term in the Kansas Department of Corrections.” A presentence investigation report shows the aggravated term as 123 months, or just more than 10 years, in prison.

STEPHANIE’S ROAD AHEAD

Six weeks after the stabbing, Perez’s mother, Laura Villegas, said she wanted to speak publicly about her ordeal as an exercise in moving past it. Perez described the attack and the nightmares she continued to have.

“Sometimes at night I feel like the knife is still in me,” Perez said then.

Villegas told KCTV5 on Tuesday by phone that the nightmares became less frequent during the months when the case was at a standstill pending the evaluations related to the initial defense approach. She said they returned more frequently after the case came closer to its conclusion. Villegas hopes the finality of Wednesday’s sentencing will allow Perez to continue healing emotionally.

They are aware the judge has the final say on sentencing and does not need to follow the agreed to by the prosecution and defense. For that reason, they are anxious to see it happen in court.

“I’m glad he’s taking responsibility,” Perez said the day before sentencing. “I hope he doesn’t hurt nobody else.”

It’s been more than a year and the physical healing is still ongoing. She has another surgery on her hand in November.

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