Woman tells deputies how parents, sister stabbed in brutal attack

TAMPA -- Melissa McElroy was asleep about 4 a.m. Wednesday when she heard her mother scream.  Moments later, she found her parents and twin sister bleeding profusely from stab wounds.

It wasn't a nightmare. It was the work of her 21-year-old brother, McElroy told deputies.

Her brother, James Kenneth McElroy, was caught at a Tampa apartment complex last night, about 18 hours after deputies entered his family's Carrollwood home and found James McElroy, 50, stabbed to death and Karen L. McElroy, 54, and their 18-year-old daughter Michelle seriously injured.

Both remain in serious condition at St. Joseph's Hospital with stab wounds to the upper torso, said Debbie Carter, a spokeswoman for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

Melissa McElroy told deputies that she awoke early Wednesday morning to the sound of her mother screaming. She jumped out of bed, walked outside her bedroom and found her twin sister, Michelle, bleeding from her arms and chest, according to the Sheriff's Office.

McElroy then locked herself inside her bedroom, called 911 and climbed out her bedroom window. She told authorities that once outside, after seeing her brother leave the house and speed away in his Jaguar, she fled to the home of a neighbor, who called the Sheriff's Office. 

According to deputies, McElroy then returned to her family's home and found her father, mother and sister all stabbed and bleeding profusely from their wounds. When deputies responded to their house at 11309 Hollyglen Drive about 4:15 a.m., her father was already dead.

It was not the first time authorities had been called to the McElroy home. Two years ago, a verbal dispute between the father and son turned so violent that the younger McElroy had to be hospitalized.

His father was arrested on a domestic violence charge of aggravated battery, but the charge was later dropped. Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi said the charges were dismissed after the boy's mother told authorities he attacked his father first and it was a case of self-defense. Neighbors said James McElroy and his father never got along.

McElroy has been charged with first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder. 
After a daylong manhunt, deputies saw his blue 1989 Jaguar at Camden Wood Apartments on Hillsborough Avenue at 9:54 p.m. Wednesday and took him into custody without incident.

Deputies also charged him with possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to jail records. He is being held without bail.

Thomas Kaplan, Times staff writer