A quiet Monday afternoon in Orange Park turned into a bloody struggle when, according to deputies, a 62-year-old woman burst into her estranged daughter’s home and tried to kill her with a serrated knife. The woman, Serpil Nebiye Adams, is now behind bars.

The incident unfolded around 3:15 p.m. at a home on Reese Avenue, a neighborhood in the Oakleaf area about 20 miles south of Jacksonville. According to a 911 recording cited in charging documents, the victim could be heard yelling at someone to leave her home. When Clay County deputies arrived, the first thing they noticed was blood on the sidewalk.

Inside, they found a shaken woman and two young children — and a story that detectives say quickly escalated from a confrontation to a fight for survival.

Deputies say Adams arrived uninvited and let herself into the home through an unlocked door. According to investigators, Adams lunged at her daughter with a serrated utility knife, triggering a physical struggle inside the house. The victim later told deputies she had been trying to push her mother out when the attack began.

But the most striking moment — and the one that likely saved a life — came from the smallest person in the room. Deputies say the victim’s 8-year-old daughter ran to the kitchen, grabbed a knife, and stabbed Adams in the upper arm while trying to protect her mother.

The intervention was enough to stop the assault. Adams fled the home, leaving behind a trail of blood. Deputies noted that the drops led straight from the doorway to the street’s storm drain and toward the suspect’s vehicle.

Investigators soon connected the dots. The victim identified her attacker — her own mother — from a driver’s license photo. Deputies then discovered the vehicle Adams had been driving actually belonged to a friend. When they contacted the owner, they learned Adams had been staying at her friend’s house in Jacksonville.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office found her there and arrested her without incident.

During a custodial interview, Adams invoked her right to remain silent and asked for a lawyer, ending the questioning. Deputies say the victim and both children escaped physical harm despite the knife attack.

Adams is being held in the Clay County Jail on more than $500,000 bond. A judge ordered that she have no contact with her daughter or grandchildren if she manages to post bail. Her next court appearance is scheduled for December 16.