48 Hours season 19 episode 19 - A detailed case overview on what Angelina saw

The CBS true-crime series 48 Hours, season 19 episode 19, What Angelina Saw, revisits a harrowing case that forever changed the life of a young girl. Just at the age of 11, Angelina Fernandes awoke one night in May 2014 to the sound of her mother’s screams inside their Worcester, Massachusetts home.

What she witnessed next changed her life forever. Her mother, Stephanie Fernandes, was crying in distress, while Stephanie's fiancé, Andrew Wagner, was bleeding from a stab wound to the neck. The couple had an altercation, and Stephanie ended up stabbing Andrew. However, she maintained that she had acted in self-defense during an argument.

The 48 Hours episode, originally aired on October 15, 2023, explores the case in detail, and it will re-air tonight, August 29, 2025.

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48 Hours: What Angelina Saw- What happened to Angelina?

Stephanie Fernandes was arrested for the murder of Andrew Wagner (Image via Getty)

On May 7, 2014, eleven-year-old Angelina Fernandes went to bed as usual, but she was suddenly woken up by the sound of her mother’s frantic cries. When she went downstairs to figure out what had happened, she saw her mother, Stephanie Fernandes, distraught.

Stephanie's fiancé, Andrew Wagner, was bleeding heavily from a stab wound to the neck, and a neighbour was frantically trying to save him. Stephanie Fernandes met Andrew Wagner in 2009, and soon after they began dating, Andrew moved in with her and her daughter, Angelina. Stephanie was a single mother raising her daughter at that time.

According to CBS's 48 Hours, they shared a close bond. When Andrew moved in, the three of them began living as a family unit, and Angelina started referring to him as her “stepdad”. Initially, she enjoyed the time she spent with Andrew, especially their vacations in Cape Cod, where Andrew would spend time watching Criminal Minds with her, treating her like his own child.

But beneath this surface of stability, there were tensions always simmering. Stephanie and Andrew often got into heated fights, and Angelina even told her mother directly that she disliked the constant fighting and wanted it to stop.

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48 Hours: An escalated fight that led to a fatal incident

On the fateful night of May 7, 2014, a dispute between the couple escalated, and Stephanie ended up stabbing Andrew. Angelina witnessed the scene when she awoke that night due to her mother's cries and found Andrew fatally wounded. Andrew Wagner succumbed to his injuries despite the efforts of neighbors to resuscitate him.

An autopsy determined that he had died from a stab wound to the neck. The police arrested Stephanie and charged her with murder, manslaughter, and assault with a dangerous weapon. From the outset, her defense was that she had acted to protect herself and alleged that Andrew had pinned her down and attempted to choke her.

The case finally went to trial in 2022 after delays due to legal disputes and the COVID-19 pandemic. When the trial finally began, prosecutors maintained that Stephanie had been the aggressor and that the stabbing amounted to murder. Stephanie, however, insisted it was self-defense.

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48 Hours: Angelina's stand in her mother's trial

In the trial, Angelina took the stand to defend her mother. Her testimony reportedly helped the jury understand the dynamic in the household, including the tension and alleged abuse. After 10 days of deliberations, the jury acquitted Stephanie of murder but found her guilty of voluntary manslaughter. She was sentenced to eight to ten years in state prison.

Following her mother’s arrest, Angelina’s custody was transferred to family members in Canada. Despite the separation, the mother and daughter remained closely connected. Angelina, who is now in her early twenties, is pursuing a degree in forensic psychology, with the goal of helping both victims and children impacted by traumatic events.

Reflecting on her mother’s sentence, Angelina noted that Stephanie would miss much of her young adult life. She told Van Sant of CBS,

“I thought, wow, I’ll be close to 30 when she’s released. She’s already missed so much."

In her conversation with CBS, she expressed determination to succeed so that her mother could one day share in her happiness.

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The case is explored in detail on 48 Hours: What Angelina Saw, which is going to re-air today, August 29, 2025.