KEY POINTS

  • Police arrested Jose Sandoval-Romero in connection with the murder 
  • She was found dead lying in a pool of blood on her bed 
  • Wolk was a single mother to her son Xander
     

A single mother who was brutally stabbed to death in her apartment in Denver in July was identified as the granddaughter of Rosemary LaBianca, who was murdered by members of the infamous Charles Manson cult 51 years ago.

Though the incident happened in July, the name of the victim was released for the first time on Wednesday, said a report by Fox News.

Ariana Wolk was stabbed multiple times in the neck and was found in a pool of blood on her bed.

A 24-year-old man named Jose Sandoval-Romero was charged with the murder, just four days after the incident. According to District Attorney's Office, he confessed to the police that he stabbed Ariana, fled the scene and discarded his bloody clothes before fleeing to Colorado Springs.

The affidavit for the arrest said the victim bore several stab wounds to her arms and hands, besides the ones in her neck, said to have caused while defending the attack.

Detectives found a video from the fateful night that showed Ariana with Sandoval-Romero, who was seen holding a clear cup. According to the District Attorney's Office, the cup was retrieved from the yard and it matched Sandoval-Romero's fingerprints, as reported by Denver Channel.

Ariana was a single mother and her sister Rommi Wolk, who lives in California, has posted a GoFundMe page on behalf of their mother Suzan LaBerge. According to her family, her only son Xander was the victim's "joy of her life." Her page received more than $3955 and all donations will be set up in a trust fund in Xander’s name.

An earlier GoFundMe page saw friends donating more than $7000 to help pay to bring her body back to native California.

LaBianca and husband Leno were found murdered in an eerily similar pattern in 1967.

The couple was killed in their LA home by three of Manson's followers. LaBianca and Leno were stabbed multiple times and the latter was found with a carving fork sticking out of his stomach and the word "war" cut into his flesh.

The murderers had also scrawled "Rise" and "Death to pigs" in blood on the wall. The incident happened just a day after Manson ordered the brutal murder of 8-months pregnant actor Sharon Tate and four others at her home on Benedict Canyon.

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Representational image pixabay