Santa Rosa Chairman Asks Prayers for First Responders After Six-Year-Old's Death

Santa Rosa County, FL (Newsradio 92.3) -- Santa Rosa County Commission Chairman Colten Wright opened Thursday's meeting with a somber request for prayers for deputies and first responders dealing with the death of 6-year-old Valerie Oliva.

"A brutal murder of a six-year-old girl," Wright said. "And I talked to a deputy about it yesterday, and just keep our deputies and everyone in public safety and first responders in your prayers. What they saw and what they had to deal with was pretty atrocious."

Forty-year-old April Oliva is charged with murdering her daughter Tuesday night at their Nowling Drive home in Milton. According to the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office, Oliva allegedly stabbed Valerie over 20 times before stabbing herself in the neck and stomach.

Oliva's father discovered both on the kitchen floor covered in blood after Oliva's sister called him around 11 PM Tuesday. Authorities pronounced Valerie dead at the scene.

Oliva remains hospitalized from self-inflicted wounds and made her first court appearance Thursday afternoon via video from her hospital bed. Judge Matt Gordon appointed her a public defender and scheduled a pre-trial detention hearing for Monday at 2:30 PM.

Wright made his comments after the invocation by Associate Pastor Paula Roane of Navarre United Methodist Church.