Baker County deputies find body after saving suicidal man in Macclenny

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The Baker County Sheriff's Office is arresting Joel Lee Weeks, 47, after discovering his mother's dead body during an attempted suicide call.

According to the Sheriff's Office, Weeks called for help after stabbing himself in the stomach Monday.

The Sheriff's Office said when deputies arrived at the home on Big Oak Court they found Weeks with a knife in his stomach and, after a protective sweep of the duplex, deputies found the body of a woman.

The woman, Rebekah Ann Osteen, 66, is Weeks' mother, according to the Sheriff's Office. Family of the victim told deputies Osteen moved to Baker County to get away from Weeks after an incident in Duval County. The family told deputies Weeks had a violent history with his mother and that they were unaware Weeks would be at his mother's home.

The Sheriff's Office said it has obtained a second-degree murder warrant for Weeks. Weeks is currently in a hospital in Jacksonville recovering from his injuries.

A neighbor, Tammy Zalesny, said she woke up Monday morning to deputies outside her home.

“I didn’t know what to think or what was happening. I was scared,” Zalesny said.

Deputies said when they found the elderly woman's body, it looked like she had been dead for several hours.

They are calling her death suspicious and said she was found with cuts on her body.

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“Never heard anything, never saw anything, nothing would indicate that anything happened,” Zalesny said.

Zalesny said she lived next to the woman and her son for a year.

“They were always very quiet -- no trouble. She had a little dog, very nice,” Zalesny said.

She said deputies were asking her if she heard anything.

“I was kind of concerned with the area if it was safe and he said there was no threat to community and it was family related,” Zalesny said.

Another neighbor said he last saw the woman on Sunday when he and his friend rode past her home.