The Arizona student who jumped from her seat to stab a classmate she barely knew was living in a $784,000 home in a gated community and enjoying European vacations with her family.
Kaci Sloan, 19, has been charged with attempted murder after plunging a knife into Mara Daffron as the couple sat through an economics class on ASU’s West Valley campus on Sept. 19.
Daffron’s mother, Launi, told Dailymail.com that her daughter didn’t realize she was being attacked at first because Sloan tripped just before reaching her.
“Mara tried to help her up,” he explained. “Then he realized something wasn’t right. She turned around, ran and was stabbed in the back.
Photos on social media show Sloan enjoying a glamorous vacation in France a couple of years ago, while describing herself on LinkedIn as a “communicative, goal-oriented team player who strives for the highest quality of work possible.” .
“I am a quick learner and extremely observant, which gives me strong organizational skills and quick action in a work environment,” she says.
Kaci Sloan, 19, on her 2022 summer vacation in the French capital with her sister MacKenzie
Mara Daffron, 19, was stabbed as she entered her classroom in Glendale on September 19.
Daffron, 19, is recovering at home with his parents after emergency surgery to repair a ruptured spleen and injuries to his chest and arm.
His mother said Daffron was having his first counseling session since the attack on Tuesday afternoon.
“He’s too afraid to come back (to ASU),” he added. Her professors are working with her to give lectures online and I hope she can return next year.
“It still hurts a little, what happens is that he has nightmares and has to sleep with me.”
Sloan told police he was having trouble with his “self-esteem” and had decided to launch his attack the night before while at his home in Glendale, less than a mile from the school.
Sloan told police he had singled out Daffron as an “easier target” than the unidentified “veteran” he originally had in mind.
And it was Navy veteran Matthew McCormick who saved Daffron’s life after taking his angry classmate away before she could kill her target.
“I’ve never seen anything like it and I hope I never see it again,” he told Arizona State.
‘When she was going to make a third attack, I was able to grab her wrists and stop her before she could cause any more damage.
“I jumped up, grabbed her by the wrist, threw her to the ground and immediately disarmed her and then held her there until the authorities arrived,” he added.
‘I just knew I needed to do something. I had to act immediately.
‘Really the whole situation was just despicable. You know, it’s predatory to take advantage of those who consider themselves easier targets. “I really have no words.”
Prosecutors have yet to determine a motive for the attack that took place in front of more than a dozen witnesses, but Sloan told police he believed it would make his problems “go away.”
Sloan seemed to be enjoying the art galleries and landmarks on his trip to Europe.
Mara was left with serious injuries to her triceps and spleen that required surgery.
Mara told police she had no idea why she had been stabbed, just before she was rushed to the operating room at Banner Thunderbird Hospital for emergency surgery.
Sloan told police he had issues with “self-esteem” and singled out Daffron as an “easier target” than the unidentified “veteran” he originally had in mind.
“The defendant admitted that she came to class to hurt someone and that she had been planning the attack since the night before,” court documents reveal.
‘This planning included placing the knife used in the attack in his backpack to take to school. The defendant told detectives that she knew the victim’s first name but did not know anything else about her.
“She knew the victim from a previous class and shared a class with her this semester.”
Photos posted by her sister Mackenzie show the couple laughing and smiling while enjoying a sightseeing trip to France in August 2022.
They happily posed for photos together on a river boat, in front of the Eifel Tower and next to Les Invalides.
Sloan had no criminal record and witnesses said the attack came “without provocation or any word.”
Daffron was equally baffled about the motive when she spoke to police just before going into surgery.
“I’m just scared because I don’t know why the hell he would stab me,” the sports business student said.
A search of Sloan’s backpack revealed a series of handwritten letters addressed to family and friends, apologizing for what he was “about to commit.”
She told investigators that she suffered intrusive thoughts about hurting people, but that she “felt disgusted” with them and “never made a plan” until the night before the attack.
Sloan’s LinkedIn profile notes that ASU awarded him a $5,000 New American University Dean’s Award scholarship “based on my academic success,” and that he was pursuing a BBA in business administration and management.
A 2023 student at Raymond S Kellis School in Glendale, she claims to have been a member of the marching band, drama club, black student union and choir club.
The sisters happily posed for photos together on a riverboat, in front of the Eifel Tower and next to Les Invalides in Paris.
A search of Sloan’s backpack revealed a series of handwritten letters addressed to family and friends, apologizing for what he was “about to commit.”
Sloan’s LinkedIn profile notes that ASU awarded him a $5,000 New American University Dean’s Award scholarship and that he was pursuing a BBA in business administration.
Sloan is a class of 2023 at Raymond S Kellis School in Glendale, where she claims to have been a member of the marching band, drama club, black student union and choir club.
Navy veteran Matthew McCormick saved Daffron’s life after taking his enraged classmate away before she could kill her target.
“I am extremely close (sic) and have deep ties to my community,” she writes.
“I have been awarded the Arizona Seal of Proficiency in the Arts in the theater distinction that required over 80 hours of work and extracurricular activities.”
Daffron is “making great progress and recovering” back home, according to a GoFundMe set up to help.
His rescuer, who has been hailed as a hero, said he hoped to see his injured classmate back at school soon.
‘She is very vibrant. She’s happy and energetic,” McCormick said. “She’s just a great person to be around and I think the world is a better place with her in it.”
Judge Jane McLaughlin told Sloan his attack was “analogous to a school shooting and the risk it poses to the community is extreme” when he made his first court appearance.
Sloan remains in the Maricopa County Jail on $250,000 bond.
