Police said a mother walked into her daughter’s room and found a violent attack already underway.

POCATELLO, Idaho — A Pocatello woman is accused of stabbing another woman 18 times inside an apartment bedroom, then slashing the victim’s mother in the face when she tried to intervene, according to police and court records in a case that quickly shifted from a search for an unknown man to attempted murder and aggravated battery charges against 32-year-old Marita Gonzales.

Authorities said the attack happened late Sunday, Feb. 15, inside an apartment in the 700 block of South Arthur Avenue, where 32-year-old Rajah Keller lived with her 49-year-old mother, Starla Keller. Court records cited in local coverage said Rajah Keller had met Gonzales online and invited her to the apartment that night. What began as a visit inside the home turned violent within hours, police said, leaving one woman with extensive stab wounds and another with a facial injury. By the time officers finished sorting through witness accounts, medical records and video evidence, the case had become one of the more disturbing violent-crime investigations in Pocatello this year.

According to the account described in court records, Starla Keller heard a commotion coming from her daughter’s bedroom at about 10 p.m. and walked in to check on it. What she told investigators she saw was immediate and graphic: Gonzales allegedly stabbing Rajah Keller repeatedly in the room. Police later said Rajah Keller was stabbed 18 times. The mother’s entry into the room did not stop the attack right away. Instead, investigators said, Gonzales turned toward Starla Keller and cut her in the face with the knife before running from the apartment. That sequence, as laid out in public reporting, formed the basis for the two felony charges now filed against Gonzales.

When officers arrived at about 10:06 p.m., they found Rajah Keller conscious but badly hurt, according to police details later shared in local reports. Court records said she was nude, covered in blood and suffering stab wounds to her face, head, neck and hands, injuries that suggested both direct strikes and defensive wounds during a struggle. Officers and medical responders began aid at the scene before Rajah Keller was taken to Portneuf Medical Center. From there, because of the seriousness of her injuries, she was flown roughly 160 miles south to a hospital in Salt Lake City. Police later said she was in stable condition after treatment, though no fuller medical update has been made public.

Starla Keller’s injuries were less severe, but authorities said she also required hospital treatment after trying to stop the attack. She was taken to a local hospital, treated and later released. Public records available so far do not describe the full depth of the facial wound or whether she required stitches or surgery. Even so, her injury became a major part of the criminal case because investigators say it happened during the same burst of violence inside the apartment. The mother’s account also appears to have been central to the early reconstruction of what happened in the room, especially in the first hours before detectives had assembled additional surveillance evidence and a more complete timeline.

One of the most unusual turns in the case came after police first alerted the public. In the immediate aftermath, the Pocatello Police Department said officers were searching for an unknown male assailant described as about 5 feet 10 inches tall, with short hair, a hat and a dark jacket. Officers also said the suspect had run south on Arthur Avenue. That description would later prove wrong. Investigators eventually reviewed surveillance footage that showed Rajah Keller and another person entering a store about an hour before the stabbing. Police said that footage helped them identify Gonzales as the suspect, reversing the original public description and sharply changing the direction of the investigation.

Police arrested Gonzales on Tuesday, Feb. 17, at about 9 p.m. and booked her into the Bannock County Jail on one count of attempted murder and one count of aggravated battery. The arrest came less than two days after the attack, a sign that detectives had moved quickly once they were able to compare witness statements with video evidence and whatever other investigative leads they developed. Authorities have not publicly explained in detail why the suspect was initially described as male, whether the description came from a witness in shock, or whether confusion during the emergency response contributed to the mistake. They also have not publicly released a detailed probable cause affidavit beyond the facts cited in local news accounts.

When Gonzales appeared in court the next day, a judge ordered that she be held on a $1 million bond, according to reporting from the hearing. The public record does not yet answer some of the central questions likely to shape the case as it moves forward. Investigators have not publicly identified a motive. They have not said whether there had been an argument before the stabbing, whether the women had met in person before that night, or whether alcohol, drugs or another outside factor played any role. Nor have officials said whether detectives recovered the knife at the scene or elsewhere. Those gaps are important because they will likely determine how prosecutors present intent and premeditation, if at all, in later filings.

The broader context of the case has also drawn attention because of the setting. This was not a street encounter or a bar fight, according to the facts released so far. It was an attack inside a private residence after an online connection reportedly turned into an in-person meeting. The violence also unfolded with a family member close enough to hear a disturbance, open a bedroom door and become a second victim within moments. That sequence gives the case an unusually intimate and chaotic quality, one likely to remain central as prosecutors describe the scene to a court. The reported injuries to Rajah Keller, especially the number of stab wounds and the areas of the body affected, will almost certainly remain a major focus of the prosecution.

Gonzales remains jailed in Bannock County, and Rajah Keller continues recovering from serious wounds and the criminal case is still in its early stage. The next major development is expected to come through future court hearings, where prosecutors may lay out a fuller timeline of what happened inside the apartment and defense lawyers may begin challenging the state’s version of events.

Author note: Last updated March 20, 2026.