A young New Jersey woman is facing charges after allegedly stabbing her little brother. Before Marlene Rodriguez stabbed her brother in the chest with a knife, she had been asking some suspicious questions, according to her family. They were definitely concerned but apparently not enough to assume that she would physically harm anyone. Once she was taken by police, it became clear Rodriguez probably is dealing with some kind of mental illness, but there’s no report on how that might affect her charges.
Officers from the Brick Township Police Department responded to a call that a 2-year-old boy had been stabbed in the chest on November 1, 2025, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office shared in a news release.
After an investigation by multiple agencies, it was determined that 20-year-old Marlene Rodriguez was the one who committed the crime. She was taken into police custody at Brick Township Police headquarters before being taken to Ocean County Jail.
Rodriguez has been charged with attempted murder, unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and endangering the welfare of a child, prosecutors announced in the release.
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Patch in Brick, New Jersey, authorities said the boy was conscious and alert when police arrived. He was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center and was in stable condition as of November 5. He received a punctured lung and a puncture to the wall of his heart in the stabbing.
After police read the young woman her rights, she told them she stabbed her brother.
Police later spoke with her cousin at headquarters, when they learned of a chilling conversation. Earlier that day, Rodriguez had asked her cousin if she had ever sacrificed someone, and if so, who. The cousin turned the question around, but Rodriguez didn’t answer, Patch reported.
Rodriguez was yet again read her rights at the police station, the affidavit read. She agreed to talk, telling detectives that voices told her to stab her brother. She also remembered committing the act.
According to the affidavit, she told police the voices belong to a family she knows. And when she hears them, “she visually sees what she needs to do.” Detectives then asked her if she was aware that what she did was wrong.
“She replied (in Spanish) words to the effect of a third person telling her to stop talking so she doesn’t go to jail,” detectives wrote in the affidavit.
They ended the interview right then.
Marlene Rodriguez has dealt with mental health issues in the past, and had been hospitalized for an unspecified amount of time, authorities learned, per the Patch.
