JSO: Son charged in murder of elderly Sandalwood woman

Jacksonville, FL — A day after an elderly woman was found dead in a Sandalwood home, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office is announcing the arrest of her son.

JSO says it all started Tuesday afternoon, when patrol officers were dispatched to the 2000 block of Willesdon Drive West, in response to an unresponsive female.

"When they arrived, they found 76-year-old Mary Rolnick deceased in her bedroom. It appeared Mary had been stabbed several times and the suspect had entered the home by shattering the rear sliding glass door," says Lt. Steve Gallagher, who added that the woman had also been strangled.

It was her grandson who made the initial discovery and 911 call.

Gallagher says, "He said that when he first saw her, he suspected immediately that it had been his father who committed this horrible act."

Police identified his father as Scott Rolnick, 52, who they described as out of work and hooked on drugs.

Rolnick was found later that same afternoon in his mother's stolen car at a gas station on Powers Avenue still covered in blood.

While JSO didn't lay out any exact motive behind the crime, we're told Rolnick had a history of stealing from his mother and had been evicted from her home about 2 months earlier.

"He had lived with her for quite some time before that. She kicked him out because he had been stealing items from her. Credit cards and things like that," explains Gallagher.

Rolnick is charged with murder and auto theft.