LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. — The man who police say, stabbed a woman in a Lehigh home, made his first court appearance in Pasco County on Wednesday. The victim's husband says Lukas Carlton killed his own mother.
Florida Highway Patrol and the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office arrested 23-year-old Carlton north of Tampa Tuesday.
The Lee County Sheriff's Office says Carlton stabbed a woman on 56th Street West in Lehigh Acres on Monday night.
The victim's husband, John Barnett, says his wife Stephanie Lynch Barnett, died from the stab wounds.
He says her killer was her own son.
The Lee County Sheriff's Office responded to their home a little after nine p.m. Monday.
Hear what the victim's husband told Fox 4 in Community Correspondent Ella Rhoades' report:
The Lee County Sheriff's Office police report says that when deputies got on scene, they found Stephanie Barnett in the garage.
They did CPR, but couldn't save her.
The report didn't include where the suspect was when police showed up.
However, on Tuesday, FHP and Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office pulled Carlton over and arrested him on State Road 52.
Carlton made his first court appearance in Dade City Wednesday where he's being held without bond according to the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court.
The Pasco County Sheriff's Office says Carlton's pending extradition to Lee County. It's not clear exactly when he'll be transferred.
Barnett told Fox 4 he was married to Stephanie for 16 years, and she was loved in the community.
He said he's grateful for all the community support, since her death.
Stephanie has a 15 and a 13-year-old daughter as well as a son in the Navy.
Barnett says he believes his wife's murder was premeditated. He wants Carlton's charge to change from a second degree murder to first degree murder.
Carlton does have a record. He was released from prison in February 2024 after shooting into cars on I-75.
Other court documents show he threatened his step father with a baseball bat in 2020, but those charges weren't prosecuted.
