Norah Horwitz faces a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of her father, a prominent Virginia dentist. She has claimed she acted in self-defense.
A Virginia woman said she stabbed her father to death in self-defense because she feared he was going to rape her, a police detective testified Thursday.
Norah Horwitz, 37, was arrested in June by officers who responded to a domestic disturbance call, authorities said. They found Horwitz's father, Abbey Horwitz, with multiple stab wounds, police said. Abbey Horwitz, 68, was a prominent Virginia Beach dentist.
The man died at the home after being stabbed about 100 times in the head, chest, back and extremities, authorities said.
Testifying Thursday at the suspect's preliminary hearing, Virginia Beach Police Det. Bryan Smolin said he interviewed Horwitz at the scene, and she told him that her father had molested her in the past and they had struggled that morning over a knife.
The daughter said she was moving things out of her bedroom and had entered the kitchen to get some trash bags, the detective testified, according to multiple local reports.
Horwitz said her father was blocking the cabinet containing the bags, and she said "Excuse me," when her father made a "sexual gesture" with his hips, then grabbed a knife and "came at her," Smolin told the court.
He testified that Horwitz said she took the knife from her father, led him into a hallway and stabbed him. The two then fought over the weapon, as her father choked her, and they both ended up on the floor, where the woman was able to break free, the detective said. The woman said she then stabbed her dad additional times because she still feared him, Smolin told the court.
The case has drawn extensive media coverage in Virginia because the dentist was well-known and active in Jewish community affairs.
A judge ruled Thursday that the case would be forwarded to the grand jury, which next meets on Dec. 4.
Horwitz remains in custody without bail, according to online jail records.
Inside Edition Digital has reached out to the Virginia Beach Public Defender's Office, which is representing Horwitz. She has not entered a plea, according to court records.
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