An elderly woman who was stabbed and assaulted in a break and enter at her London home early Saturday morning has died, according to the London Police Service. The case has now been turned over to the LPS Major Crimes Section to investigate as a homicide in collaboration with the Chief Coroner’s Office. “There was a few squad cars there, and I didn’t know what happened until I saw forensics there,” said James Horner, who lives across the street from where the incident occurred. He learned of his neighbour’s death while speaking to CTV News Friday morning. “That’s hard to take in. It shouldn’t happen to somebody like that. It sucks. The only thing I can think of, it sucks. It’s sad. And it’s not the outcome I would have wanted to hear,” he said. On Saturday morning just after 6 a.m., police responded to a break and enter at 10 Raywood Avenue. An elderly woman had been awoken by a loud noise and found a man in her home. She was assaulted and stabbed, and taken to hospital with injuries described at the time as serious but non life-threatening. On Friday, police announced that she died in hospital of her injuries. The London city tax registry identifies the owner of the home as 73-year-old Lillian Anne Leonard. Neighbour Steve Walker says he didn’t know her, personally. But he’s rattled by the incident, nonetheless. “It’s scary. Yeah, it’s scary. I mean I think she was an older woman living here by herself and, yeah. It’s horrible,” he remarked. Nelson Enrique Cornejo, 40, of London has been charged with second degree murder, along several other offences in connection with the Saturday morning incident. The charges are as follows: LPS says as officers attended the residence the accused began throwing broken glass at police. One officer sustained minor injuries. On Friday, shards of broken glass remained on the front and back porches, and front lawn of the home. A front window and back door had been boarded up. The incident appears to be random. “We do believe this was an isolated incident,” said LPS Inspector Jerry Rozic. “They were not known to each other. And I also want to reassure the public that the accused is in custody at this time. He was arrested at the scene,” he said. The Raywood Avenue home where the incident occurred is currently the closest house to the corner at Wellington, with a vacant lot in between. A number of houses have been taken down to make way for the new transit line. Some neighbours believe that has left the neighbourhood, and Raywood Avenue in particular, more exposed. “All these big trees have been cut down, which is another sad thing. But all the construction that has been going on here, the neighbourhood has been compromised somewhat with maybe crime. It’s sad,” said neighbour Mark Todd. LPS is asking the public to contact them with any information relating to the case or the suspect’s whereabouts leading up to the incident. In the meantime, Nelson Enrique Cornejo is scheduled to appear in court on Monday, Aug. 31.
