Son fatally stabs mother while listening to Jay-Z, Kanye West’s ‘No Church in the Wild’

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Wednesday, April 10, 2024

A 21-year-old pre-med student at the University of Florida with no history of mental illness confessed to fatally stabbing his mother more than 70 times in Frostproof on Saturday while listening to Kanye West and Jay-Z's song “No Church in the Wild,” authorities said.

The student, Emmanuel Espinoza, told investigators that even though he loved his mother, he had wanted to murder her for years because she irritated him, according to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd. His mother, Elvia Espinoza, 46, was a second-grade teacher at Ben Hill Griffin Elementary School in Frostproof.

“He was coming from Gainesville to Frostproof for a family event, for a grandparent this weekend, and he asked his mom if he could stay with her, and she said sure. He arrived about 2 o’clock. ... He knocked on the front door and when [his] mom opened the door, he began to stab her and he stabbed her many times,” Judd said.

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“We talked to him, and he confessed. He said, ‘you know, I have wanted to kill my mother for many, many years because she got on my nerves.’ And then we asked him, what’s your relationship with your mother, and he said, ‘about an eight out of 10.’ That he really loved her, but she irritated him. And he made up his mind today, on his way from Gainesville, that he would murder her. And that’s exactly what he did.”

At a press conference on Saturday, Judd explained that when Emmanuel Espinoza attacked his mother at the door of her home, he said nothing. He couldn’t hear her calling out his name in desperation because he had put AirPods in his ears and was blasting Kanye West and Jay-Z's song featuring Frank Ocean, “No Church in the Wild,” which some critics have interpreted as a rejection of  organized religion by today’s youth.

“Human beings in a mob/ What's a mob to a king?/ What's a king to a God?/ What's a God to a non-believer/ Who don't believe in anything?/ Will he make it out alive?/ Alright, alright/ No church in the wild,” the chorus of the song says.

“He had put AirPods in his ear and he was playing ‘No Church in the Wild,’” Judd said. “When he drove up to the house and knocked on the front door … that was the music in his ear.”

The sheriff said before her death, Elvia Espinoza was very proud of her youngest child.

“I want you to understand that she was very proud of his accomplishments in going to the University of Florida and graduating number one in his high school class. And then, I want you to understand that he viciously murdered and confessed to it,” he said.

Judd explained that Emmanuel Espinoza made certain his mother was dead before he called police, and he knew exactly how to ensure his attack on her was fatal.

“He made the statement that he knew where to stab her for maximum effect from his biology classes,” Judd said.

“We have another audio that we're not going to play from the inside of the house where she's screaming Manny! Manny! Manny! And he's not saying one word. He stabbed her in excess of 70 times,” Judd explained.

“As she tried to get up off of the floor he stabbed her some more. He said he noticed her hands were still moving so he stabbed her some more,” the sheriff added. “He told the detectives in his confession that he had cut his hand on the knife while stabbing his mother. And as he [was] standing at the kitchen sink washing himself off and the knives, he wanted to ask his mother for the Neosporin for the cut in his hand, but he noticed she was dead. He immediately called 911 and confessed.”

Marisol Longo, the oldest of Elvia Espinoza’s three children, told Tampa Bay 10, that her mother didn’t deserve to be murdered by her brother and the family was trusting God to help them through the ordeal.

“She was always full of life. She was always encouraging. She was our biggest supporter,” Longo said. “I think the biggest lesson is to trust God. She taught me how to be a great mother and sister.”