Rita Loncharich called her husband from a Florida bookstore on Monday night.
"He stabbed me," she gasped into the phone before she collapsed.
And a woman just died Christmas shopping because Palm Beach Gardens failed again.
Christmas Browsing Turned Into Nightmare
Rita Loncharich was doing something millions of Americans do every day — browsing Barnes & Noble for Christmas gifts.¹
The 65-year-old wife and mother was reading a magazine around 8 p.m. Monday.
That's when Antonio Moore walked up behind her and stabbed her in the back with a knife.²
No warning.
No argument.
No prior interaction.
Just a blade between her shoulder blades while she flipped through pages in Palm Beach Gardens.
Surveillance cameras caught Moore fleeing to nearby woods.
Police found him about 1,500 feet away and he confessed immediately.³
https://twitter.com/Bubblebathgirl/status/2004333335569420495?s=20
"Antonio stated there was no prior interaction with Rita, or motive as to why he stabbed Rita in the back," the police affidavit reads.⁴
Moore told investigators he had an "internal buildup" that triggered his "fight or flight response."
Rita was simply "the closest person inside the store."⁵
She died during surgery at 9:22 p.m., leaving behind a devastated husband and family.
Moore had arrived from Georgia by bus just one week earlier.
He was living in the woods.⁶
The System Failed Rita Loncharich
Palm Beach County loves to brag about its "extensive mental health support" for the homeless population.
The county offers The Lord's Place PATH Program for specialized outreach.
Mobile clinics providing on-site psychiatric care.
A 24/7 crisis hotline through 211 and 988.
Comprehensive case management linking homeless individuals to housing and treatment.⁷
None of it stopped Antonio Moore from murdering an innocent woman.
The county even has a Homeless Outreach Team that supposedly coordinates services for people experiencing homelessness and mental illness.
Where were they when Moore was camping in the woods near a shopping center?
https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/2004287730495238291?s=20
What good are all these programs if they can't identify and commit dangerous individuals before they kill?
Moore is now charged with first-degree premeditated murder and being held without bond.⁸
But Rita Loncharich is still dead.
Palm Beach Gardens Has Seen This Movie Before
This isn't some isolated incident.
Palm Beach Gardens has become ground zero for random violent attacks by mentally ill transients.
The system keeps failing to stop them.
In 2021, homeless drifter Semmie Williams stabbed 14-year-old Ryan Rogers to death while the boy was riding his bicycle.⁹
Williams suffered from schizophrenia.
He'd previously been hospitalized for two years after an unprovoked attack on an elderly man in Georgia.¹⁰
The courts deemed Williams incompetent to stand trial multiple times because of his mental illness.¹¹
Trial is finally set to begin — more than four years after he murdered a child.
Last year, Junior Boucher beat 65-year-old golfer Brian Hiltebeitel to death with his own golf clubs at the Sandhill Crane Golf Club.¹²
https://twitter.com/MarcusGustavus/status/2003801832267899128?s=20
Just hours before the attack, Boucher's family called police about his erratic behavior and history of mental illness.¹³
Boucher was also found incompetent to stand trial and committed to a mental health facility.¹⁴
Now Rita Loncharich joins this grim list of victims.
Three random murders by mentally ill homeless men in the same community within four years.
Palm Beach County saw a 15% jump in homelessness between 2023 and 2024.
Roughly 75% of the homeless population is unsheltered — nearly 1,600 people living on the streets without a roof over their heads.¹⁵
The county keeps throwing money at programs while body counts rise.
Families bury loved ones who were just living their normal lives.
Rita Loncharich was reading a magazine.
Ryan Rogers was riding his bike.
Brian Hiltebeitel was playing golf.
All three are dead because the system prioritizes the "rights" of dangerous mentally ill individuals over the safety of innocent people.
Palm Beach County has mobile clinics, outreach teams, crisis hotlines, and case managers.
What they don't have is the will to involuntarily commit violent psychotics before they murder someone.
That's the hard truth nobody wants to say out loud.
But after three random killings in four years, somebody needs to.
Rita Loncharich called her husband to tell him she'd been stabbed.
Those were among her last words.
No amount of taxpayer-funded "outreach" will bring her back.
¹ CBS12 News, "'He stabbed me': New details released in deadly stabbing at Florida Barnes & Noble," December 24, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Ibid.
⁴ ABC News, "Woman fatally stabbed at Barnes & Noble store in Florida in apparently unprovoked attack: Police," December 24, 2025.
⁵ Ibid.
⁶ CBS12 News, "'He stabbed me': New details released in deadly stabbing at Florida Barnes & Noble," December 24, 2025.
⁷ Ibid.
⁸ CBS12 News, "'He stabbed me': New details released in deadly stabbing at Florida Barnes & Noble," December 24, 2025.
⁹ WISTV, "Police: Fla. teen fatally stabbed by homeless man in 'random act'," December 5, 2021.
¹⁰ Law & Crime, "2 Psychologists Find Man Competent to Stand Trial in Alleged 'Completely Random' Stabbing Murder of 14-Year-Old Boy," April 8, 2022.
¹¹ CBS12 News, "Death penalty off the table in Semmie Williams trial for killing teen," December 18, 2024.
¹² NBC News, "Florida man charged with murder after golfer beaten with his own clubs," November 28, 2024.
¹³ CBS12 News, "Palm Beach Gardens tragedy: Were warning signs missed before golf course murder?," November 28, 2024.
¹⁴ WPBF, "Man accused of golf course attack in Palm Beach Gardens deemed unfit for trial," September 24, 2025.
¹⁵ CBS12 News, "2024 Homeless Count: Palm Beach County sees 15% rise in people experiencing homelessness," April 12, 2024.
