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Deputies: Intruder breaks into home, attacks Florida sleeping man with a machete and begins choking his wife

The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office says the intruder planned to kill a woman's husband and convince her to run away together.
Credit: Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office

VENICE, Fla. — It was the middle of the night. Everything happened so quickly.

Investigators say a woman from Maine broke a bedroom window and forced her way into a Venice, Florida, couple's home. It was just after midnight Sunday on Burke Road.

She attacked a man with a machete while he was sleeping, authorities say, before choking the man's wife who tried to intervene.

The wife and the attacker actually knew each other, according to deputies. They reportedly worked together.

The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office identified the intruder as 27-year-old Alana Gibson. Deputies say she ran off and hopped into a pickup truck when other people inside the home interrupted the attack. 

A chase ensued. At times, authorities say it reached speeds of 100 mph.

North Port Police deployed stop sticks. A PIT maneuver ultimately ended the pursuit in Charlotte County.

Back at the home, detectives say they recovered the machete, but that wasn't all. The sheriff's office says it also found an ax, a compound bow and several arrows that all belonged to Gibson.

"During an interview, Gibson admitted to planning to kill the husband and convince the wife to run away with her," the sheriff's office wrote in a news release.

The husband was taken to the hospital, where first responders say he is stable.

Gibson is charged with attempted murder, armed burglary of an occupied dwelling, battery and fleeing to elude. She was booked into the Sarasota County Correctional Facility and is being held without bond.

Police confirmed Gibson lives in Biddeford, Maine.

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