Police said 35-year-old Jill Millman was pronounced dead inside her home in the 800 block of Bergen Street Wednesday evening.
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"I just can't understand what happened. Why take her life?" said Jill's mother, Beth Ann Weinstein-Rubenstein.
Weinstein-Rubenstein said she stopped by the house Wednesday to feed Jill's animals thinking her daughter was at work.
"And then, I went up the steps and the bathroom light was on. I couldn't understand why the light was on, and there she was laying on the floor. I thought she slipped out of the shower," Weinstein-Rubenstein said.
Philadelphia police broke the news to the family and told them someone stabbed Jill several times in the back.
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"You hear on the news all the time until it happens to you, you don't understand and last night it happened to us," said Jill's stepfather Bob Rubenstein.
The family said they are trying to make sense of it all, thinking maybe someone misunderstood Jill's personality.
"Jill was on the spectrum. Jill had autism and she had some other developmental delays and sometimes people with autism...a lot of people don't understand," Weinstein-Rubenstein said.
Jill still pursued her dreams and worked as a prep cook at The Dining Car on Frankford Avenue.
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"The people at The Diner Car got it. They understand, they understood her passion for people," Weinstein-Rubenstein said.
Acting Philadelphia Police Commissioner Christine Coulter said it appears to be a domestic incident, with the actor being someone that Jill knew.
Coulter said police are questioning a person of interest as sell as reviewing surveillance video for any possible clues that could bring answers to the family.
"She needs justice. You hear it too many times, but she needs justice. This wasn't right, this wasn't fair to take somebody away from a family like that and leave them in pieces," Rubenstein said.
No arrests have been made. Anyone with any information is asked to call police at 215-686-TIPS.