A 46-year-old man once locked up after stabbing two seven-year-old boys is now charged with stabbing a mother and her toddler on a Providence street corner, leaving the little girl fighting for her life.
Breitbart reported that police identified the suspect as Nelson Blanco and arrested him after the Wednesday attack near a school. The New York Post carried the account Friday.
Blanco faces two counts of assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and breaking and entering. The case lands hard on a simple question: how a man with this record stayed free to strike again.
Authorities say Blanco targeted a mother and toddler he did not know. The woman stood on a street corner in Providence, Rhode Island, waiting for her other children to come out of school.
He allegedly yelled at the mother, then stabbed her and the toddler as she tried to move away. He ran from the scene, broke into a nearby home, and hid there until police found and arrested him.
Law enforcement told the New York Post the girl remains in critical condition and is “fighting for her life.” The mother has been released from care.
Nursing assistant Jessie Palmer saw the attack and moved fast. She later described the scene to ABC 7.
"I helped the baby out the carriage. And when I saw she was bleeding, I like put her to the floor, and I was putting pressure. Another lady came and stopped in the middle of the street. She came and helped me apply the pressure, and then the baby stopped breathing; so we had to start performing CPR and breathing for the baby until the ambulance came,"
Palmer did not say much about the accused. “That man’s evil and what he did was wrong, and I don’t even think jail’s enough punishment for him,” she said.
Neighbors also took action as the suspect fled and hid. Police later took him into custody at the home he had entered.
Blanco’s record reaches back more than two decades in the same city. In 2003, he stabbed two seven-year-old boys in Providence.
WJAR reported the earlier case and the court path that followed. Court records obtained by the station’s I-Team show Blanco spent years at Eleanor Slater Hospital after a mental health evaluation.
His public defender in that matter, retired attorney David Levy, said Blanco eventually had to be released under state law. Rhode Island law allows hospitalization for treatment aimed at restoring competency, with periodic court review.
The same law forces a hard stop. Criminal charges must be dismissed once a person’s commitment reaches two-thirds of the maximum possible prison term for the most serious charge. That rule put Blanco back on the street.
One of the 2003 victims spoke with WPRI this week. He said the attack changed him forever. He also said he saw the suspect’s face after the latest stabbing and knew it was the same man who had attacked him years earlier, even before he saw the name.
Blanco’s path did not end with the old hospital stay. In 2024, police arrested him in a domestic violence case.
A court order showed he was again found incompetent to stand trial. A doctor found he was “not a danger to the community or himself and recommended outpatient services.” A judge then green-lighted outpatient treatment.
WJAR reported those competency findings and the outpatient decision. Blanco is believed to be homeless and carries a lengthy criminal history that also includes prior charges of assault and battery, breaking and entering, and possession of a stolen vehicle.
Police have now charged Blanco in the mother and toddler stabbing. The counts include two counts of assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and breaking and entering tied to the home where he hid.
Investigators have not publicly detailed a motive. They have described the victims as people he did not know. No public results have been released about any weapon recovery beyond the stabbing allegation itself.
Authorities have not publicly confirmed the victims’ names, the exact street corner, or the precise time of the attack. The next court steps after the new arrest have not been laid out in the available public accounts.
The Rhode Island framework sits at the center of this case. Hospitals can hold a defendant for treatment meant to restore competency. Courts review those stays.
Yet the clock still runs. When commitment hits two-thirds of the top prison term on the top charge, the criminal case must be dismissed. Levy said that rule required Blanco’s release after the hospital years that followed the 2003 stabbings.
In 2024, the system again found him incompetent and steered him toward outpatient care after a doctor said he was not a danger. The Wednesday attack came after that decision.
Prosecutors now must move the new assault and breaking-and-entering charges through court. Judges will again face questions of competency, danger, and confinement if those issues return.
For the toddler still listed in critical condition, the legal timeline is not abstract. The same city that saw two boys stabbed in 2003 now watches another child fight for her life after an attack police tie to the same man.
Blanco’s history runs from the 2003 stabbings of two seven-year-old boys, through years at Eleanor Slater Hospital, through a law-driven release, through a 2024 domestic violence arrest and outpatient order, to the latest charges.
Police say he yelled, stabbed a mother and toddler, fled, broke into a home, and hid until officers found him. A nursing assistant and another woman kept the child alive long enough for an ambulance.
One prior victim says he recognized the face at once. Palmer called the accused evil and said jail may not be enough. The girl remains in critical condition.
When courts and clinicians cycle a violent defendant back into the community under competency rules, families on ordinary street corners carry the risk. Law and order means little if the system keeps unlocking the same door.
