Family of woman stabbed by driver in Fredericksburg speaks out: 'She was just road raging'

Family of victim in Fredericksburg road rage stabbing speaks out

FOX 5 spoke with the family of a woman who was stabbed after a road rage encounter in northern Virginia. They say their loved one never saw it coming. They say the victim left her home in this Fredericksburg neighborhood and returned with stab wounds to her hand and cut-up clothing. FOX 5's Tisha Lewis has more.

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. - FOX 5 spoke with the family of a woman who was stabbed after a road rage encounter in northern Virginia. 

They say their loved one never saw it coming.

Family says the victim left her Fredericksburg home on Friday, Feb. 27 and returned with stab wounds to her hand and cut-up clothing.

READ MORE: Virginia woman accused of ramming into another car, stabbing driver in road rage incident

The backstory:

At approximately 5:00 p.m. on Feb. 27, 2026, the Fredericksburg Police got a report of a motor vehicle crash in the 2200 block of Emancipation Highway. 

While officers were on their way to the scene, additional information came in that one of the cars involved was fleeing the scene. 

Police say the driver of the car that hit the other vehicle was trying to get away, but the driver of the car that was hit followed them.

Both cars ended up stopping in the 3300 block of Emancipation Highway, where police say the suspect, now identified as 28-year-old Alexis Spencer, intentionally struck the victim’s car with her vehicle several times. 

Spencer then got out of her car and stabbed the other driver in the hand with a knife.

Officers arrived, and Spencer was quickly taken into custody. Police also recovered the knife.

The victim was treated for minor, non-life-threatening injuries on scene, and released.

Family thankful:

Spencer was reportedly driving a black sedan behind Jarmaline Mateo.

Court documents say Spencer initially cut Mateo off, went into the left turn lane, passed and clipped Mateo’s car. Then, reportedly rammed into Mateo’s car before getting out and attacking her.

Police say Mateo’s right finger was cut along with a long gash on her medical scuba.

The victim’s daughter, Ivette Mateo, says she’s just glad her mother is alive after this road rage incident.

"From what I know, that my mom told me, she was just road raging already. She could see her from her rear view and ran her off the road," said Mateo. "I can’t believe it’s happening to be honest. It’s so crazy to think that somebody would do it." 

FOX 5 is told that Jarmalin Mateo, who works at a medical lab, is already back on the job.

Spencer remains behind bars facing several felony charges, including malicious wounding, assault and battery and aggressive driving.