One Woman's Plea for Help Ends in Murder

A Florida woman calls 911 while being chased by her killer.

ByABC News
September 17, 2008, 4:53 PM

PLANTATION, Fla., Sept.18, 2008— -- One evening in April, after Olidia Kerr Day's relaxing day at the beach with her children, her family was interrupted by a knock on the door shortly before dinner.

Her son Edward Kerr, 24, opened the door, assuming it was his mother's boyfriend, Jesus Sosa. Instead, Carlos Cevallos walked in.

Kerr Day, 45, had met Cevallos, 48, several weeks earlier at the supermarket, where he worked as a meat clerk. Although they became friendly and she hired him to do handyman work around her house, it quickly became apparent to Kerr Day and her children that Cevallos wanted a romantic relationship.

"She tried to be his friend, and then she realized that she couldn't just be friends with him because he wanted more," said Kerr Day's 20-year-old daughter, Elizabeth Kerr, who believes Cevallos was stalking her mother. "A few days before, my mom said, 'Cevallos just called me up and said, "I have a gun."' She was very afraid of him."

Now, the man that Kerr Day believed had a gun was at her front door unannounced, and practically forcing his way in.

Kerr Day, who was in the shower, instructed her son Edward Kerr to make Cevallos leave. But it was too late: Cevallos saw Kerr Day and made his way to the bedroom, slamming the door behind him.

"I'm worried so I begin to pound on the door and I tell her, you've got five seconds to tell me everything's OK and open this door before I break it in," Edward Kerr told ABC News. "At this point, she starts speaking in Spanish to him, and maybe five seconds, six seconds later, she comes out."

Kerr Day had done something very brave. In Spanish, she promised Cevallos that he would get an opportunity to talk to her, but not in the house and certainly not in front of her kids. She ran towards the door, only telling her son to lock the house. Cevallos marched out behind her and her puzzled boyfriend, Sosa, followed unalarmed -- until he saw them get in separate cars, with Kerr Day looking panicked.