bri

A teenager stalked his ex-girlfriend for weeks after she ended things, then followed her and her mother out of a restaurant. What finally stopped him was a stranger who ran toward the screams. "You are sentenced to serve the remainder of your life in prison." Spencer Pearson heard those words in a Florida courtroom in November 2024, after hoping his age and his lawyers' brain-injury argument would save him. You can see on his face the moment he understands it's over. The girl he attacked, Madison Schemitz, was 17. She survived because 2 people ran toward him instead of away. They had dated for about 6 months. After the breakup in April 2023, Pearson spent weeks stalking and harassing her online. On June 3, Madison and her mother, Jaclyn Rogé, were leaving a restaurant in Ponte Vedra Beach when they spotted him and hurried to the car. He caught Madison there and stabbed her repeatedly. One wound damaged her spinal cord and left her paralyzed from the chest down. Her mother threw herself at him and was stabbed too, badly enough to need hand surgery. Then the stranger, Kennedy Armstrong, tackled Pearson and pulled him off, and was cut so deeply he needed multiple surgeries. Pearson turned the knife on himself, survived and was arrested. Madison fought her way back and eventually walked again. In July 2024, Pearson pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder, and the judge refused to go below the guidelines. Madison later presented her mother and Armstrong with the Carnegie Medal for heroism. He stalked her for months, and the 2 people who saved her needed only seconds to decide. If someone you love says an ex won't leave them alone, believe them the first time.