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Neighbors Stunned By Woman's Stabbing Death Allegedly By Daughter

SHERIDAN (CBS13) — A Placer County daughter will face a judge on Friday in the alleged stabbing death of her mother.

In this quiet rural Sheridan neighborhood, a mother is murdered.

Joe Schmidt lives next door to the victim, 61-year-old Maria Beneariu, who loved spending time in her garden.

"She'd be out there everyday just watering it, checking up on it."

But Wednesday would be the last time Maria would get to enjoy her garden.

Detectives say she was stabbed inside her home. She made it outside to her yard, but her wounds would be too great.

Not long after, they arrested her daughter, Ana Maria.

"I just heard that she was bipolar or something.

Neighbors say the daughter had mental-health issues. CBS13 has learned the Placer County Sheriff's Department made three visits to the home in 2012—all for family disputes.

But they hadn't been back until Wednesdya.

The family was well-liked by their neighbors, but Joe says every so often, he'd hear the family argue. Nothing big, but enough that he noticed.

"Occasionally, just arguing about something they are going to do outside, like how they are going to set up the garden or something like that. Just normal stuff."

Now he, like everyone else on this street, is trying to comprehend what's happened here, wondering how a daughter could be accused of such a heinous act.

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