The middle-aged woman was strolling through a dimly lit Cabbagetown alleyway; nothing wrong, nothing awry, just the light patter of Tuesday’s early-morning rain. Then, through the darkness, a man with hand buried in his black coat calmly appeared behind her.

Shortly after, the woman lay stabbed to death on the alleyway’s wet interlocking bricks as horrified onlookers watched.

Police say the victim, identified only as a woman in her fifties, was walking through the alleyway near Ontario and Winchester Sts. at around 7 a.m. when a male with a knife approached her from behind.

In a surveillance tape released Tuesday night, the woman is seen walking east through the laneway from Bleecker St. toward Ontario St. Police, who would not release victim information Tuesday until next of kin had been notified, said the woman was possibly walking home from work, and they believe the attack was unprovoked.

What transpired during the assault remains unclear; but one man, who said he intervened in a futile attempt to save the woman, said she was stabbed with a long serrated blade at least 10 times.

Paul Down, 46, said he was in Winchester Park collecting beer bottles with his friend when the pair heard a woman screaming for help. They rushed to the alleyway, where Down said they found the suspect violently stabbing and cursing at the woman. Down’s friend quickly stepped in.

“I looked over and the next thing you know, my buddy Dave whacked the guy with the umbrella,” knocking the knife out of the suspect’s hand, Down said.

Down said the suspect then retrieved the knife, fleeing south on foot down Ontario St. before turning west on Carlton St. toward Allan Gardens. Down said he pursued the attacker on his electric bicycle until it got caught in a streetcar track, killing the chase.

Judy Court, 69, awoke on Tuesday morning to the sound of screams: a woman yelling in agony. She said she witnessed the attack from the window of her Ontario St. home.

Court said the suspect continued stabbing the defenceless woman, even as two men tried to stop him.

“She was just a mound on the ground by then,” said Court, a 15-year resident of the neighbourhood. “(The attacker) just kept going.”

Det.-Sgt. Gary Giroux said police have several surveillance videos capturing the attack. While it is uncertain if the woman was sexually assaulted or robbed, the footage, he said, suggests she was followed. She died of her injuries at St. Michael’s Hospital.

Police described the assailant only as a white male, about 5-foot-10, wearing dark clothing and a cap.

Area residents, shaken by news of the brutal stabbing, said the alleyway, which runs one block south of Winchester Public School, is a well-known shortcut through the neighbourhood.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“We walk our dogs down that laneway all the time,” said Rebecca DeWitt, who runs a daycare out of her Bleecker St. apartment building that backs onto the alleyway.

“Nothing like this has ever happened in this area,” said DeWitt, who has lived in the area for 20 years. “It’s our community, and it’s frightening.”