The wounded woman fled a Margate home and reached a neighbor after being attacked while her young daughter was nearby, police say.

MARGATE, Fla. — A woman suffering serious wounds escaped from a South Florida home and sought help from a neighbor after police say her brother repeatedly attacked her with a machete while she was sleeping beside her 1-year-old daughter. Ruben Altidor, 36, was arrested at the scene Aug. 3 and accused of attempted felony murder, aggravated child abuse and violating probation, according to Margate police and jail records cited in local reports.

The escape became a central part of investigators’ account of what happened inside and outside the Northwest Fourth Place home. Officers responding to the residence heard a woman screaming, according to an arrest report described by Local 10 News and Law&Crime. The injured woman then came outside and said someone was trying to kill her. Police said she moved away from the home while bleeding heavily and eventually reached a nearby residence, where she sought help and collapsed. A relative at the scene identified Altidor, the woman’s brother, as the alleged attacker, and officers took him into custody.

Investigators say the violence began in the woman’s bedroom while she was asleep. The victim later told an officer during her trip to the hospital that Altidor had struck her several times with a machete. According to the arrest report, she also said he stopped during the attack and asked, “Oh my God, why aren’t you dead yet?” Police have not publicly identified a motive for the alleged assault, and the accounts reviewed do not describe an argument or confrontation immediately before it began. The allegation that the woman was asleep when the attack started has therefore become an important part of the police narrative, but it remains an allegation contained in the investigative record rather than a finding made at trial.

The woman’s attempt to get out of the house was partly captured by residential surveillance video obtained by Local 10 News. The station reported that the recording contained screams and showed an injured woman fleeing as a man police identified as Altidor followed while carrying what authorities described as a machete. Another woman could be seen holding a small child. Police said the injured woman crossed toward a neighbor’s property, rang the doorbell and collapsed after reaching the home. The video does not by itself establish every detail of what police allege happened inside the bedroom, but it provided investigators with a recorded view of the immediate aftermath outside the residence.

Police said the scene inside the house also contained physical evidence consistent with the victim’s account. During a protective sweep, officers reported seeing a substantial amount of blood in the woman’s bedroom, with a trail extending through the hallway, near a bathroom and outside. Investigators found a machete sheath in the kitchen and recovered a machete from beneath a bed in another bedroom. The arrest report described what appeared to be red smudges on the weapon. Authorities have not publicly released laboratory results linking the recovered machete to the victim’s blood, so the weapon should be treated as suspected evidence rather than as conclusively identified forensic evidence.

Emergency personnel took the woman to a hospital with serious injuries to her hands and legs. The arrest report described a large wound to the back of one thigh that reached the bone and several severe injuries to her hands and fingers. Some fingers were described as possibly amputated or nearly amputated. Those details help explain the seriousness of the attempted felony murder allegation, but police and the news reports reviewed have not provided a later medical update describing the woman’s recovery, whether surgeons were able to repair the injuries or when she might have been released from the hospital.

The woman’s 1-year-old daughter was in the bed during the alleged attack, according to investigators. Police said the child was not physically injured, although she was found with her mother’s blood on her. The child’s presence is significant because Altidor was also booked on an aggravated child abuse charge. Authorities have not publicly alleged in the reports reviewed that Altidor struck the girl with the machete. Instead, the case record described the child as being present during the alleged violence against her mother. The girl’s name has not been released in the reports, and she is not being identified because she is a minor and was not accused of wrongdoing.

Florida law makes aggravated child abuse a separate felony offense. The state’s child-abuse statute includes certain intentional acts against children and conduct meeting the law’s definition of aggravated abuse. Exactly how prosecutors intend to apply that statute to the facts alleged in Altidor’s case will depend on the charging documents and evidence presented in court. An arrest charge is not the same as a conviction, and the available reports did not include a later indictment, information, plea or trial result. The aggravated child abuse count therefore remains an accusation that prosecutors would have to prove under the applicable legal standard.

The other major charge listed in jail records is attempted felony murder. Florida law defines attempted felony murder separately from ordinary attempted murder and addresses intentional acts committed during the perpetration or attempted perpetration of another felony when the act could cause death but does not. Public reports about Altidor’s arrest list the charge as attempted felony murder, and that more specific wording matters when describing the case. The available records do not establish which underlying felony prosecutors will ultimately rely upon, what formal theory they will present in court or whether any charges could later be amended.

Altidor was also booked for a probation or community-control violation connected to an earlier aggravated battery matter, according to jail information cited by Law&Crime and Margate’s weekly crime report. Florida law allows people under court supervision to face separate proceedings when authorities allege they violated the conditions of that supervision. The probation allegation is distinct from the new criminal charges arising from the Aug. 3 incident. The reports reviewed do not provide enough information about the earlier aggravated battery case to establish its facts, its victim or the precise conditions Altidor was under when police arrested him in Margate.

Neighbors became involved only after the woman made it outside, according to the local reporting. One neighbor told Local 10 that the injured woman ran toward the street and then reached his front door seeking help. His account supports the portion of the surveillance footage showing the woman’s flight from the property, but investigators have not said that neighbors witnessed the attack inside the bedroom. The distinction is important: their observations concern the immediate aftermath, while the allegation that Altidor attacked his sleeping sister comes principally from the woman’s statement, the relative’s identification of Altidor and evidence police say they recovered from the home.

The case remained marked by unanswered questions after Altidor’s arrest. Police had not disclosed a motive, and the available reports did not explain what investigators believe happened in the hours before the alleged attack. They also did not identify a defense attorney speaking for Altidor or report a public response from him to the accusations. The victim’s identity was withheld in the reports reviewed, and no later detailed update on her medical condition was located. Those gaps limit what can responsibly be said about the reasons for the alleged violence or how the case may develop once prosecutors and defense attorneys examine the evidence.

The most recent reporting reviewed after the arrest said Altidor was being held without bond at the Broward County Main Jail. No later court outcome establishing guilt or innocence was identified in the materials reviewed. The allegations against him remain pending accusations unless and until they are resolved through the court process, while the police account centers on the woman’s escape, the evidence recovered from the home and the presence of her young daughter during the alleged attack.

Author note: Last updated September 9, 2026.