Fairfax County Woman Dies After Stabbing

A 68-year-old Fairfax County woman who was stabbed in her apartment on Tuesday died Friday afternoon, Fairfax police said.

Both Maria del Carmen Mejia, of the 3400 block of Glen Carlyn Drive in the Baileys Crossroads area, and a 2-year-old girl were attacked by a man Mejia knew, police said. An upstairs neighbor heard the attack and intervened after both Mejia and the girl had been stabbed several times in the abdomen. The attacker then fled to a nearby building, where he forced his way into an apartment and struggled with a 55-year-old man, who disarmed him and held him until police arrived.

Jose Francisco Argueta, 42, of no fixed address, was charged with two counts of malicious wounding and was being held Friday in the Fairfax jail without bond. Mejia was treated at Inova Fairfax Hospital, where police said she was in serious but stable condition, and died at 1:51 p.m. Friday. Police did not know a motive for the stabbings.