Chris Mathis / WFAA-TV

CARROLLTON — A man suspected of stabbing a Carrollton woman to death before he was killed by a train may have been the woman's son, authorities said this morning.

Ana Ascencio-Quintanilla, 42, was found by family members inside her home in the 2100 block of Highbury Road about 5:15 p.m. Monday, according to Carrollton police and the Dallas County medical examiner's office. She had been stabbed multiple times and was pronounced dead at a hospital about an hour later.

That same evening, a passerby found the body of a 21-year-old man in a field near the train tracks between East Frankford Road and East Peters Colony Road, not far from Ascencio-Quintanilla's home, said Carrollton police Officer Dustin Bartram.

Police have not released the name of the dead man, but Bartram said he was believed to be Ascencio-Quintanilla's son. From the nature of the man's injuries, it appeared he was trying to jump aboard the train rather than commit suicide.

Based on interviews with family members who discovered the woman, police said the man apparently came in through the front door and attacked her with a 6-inch kitchen knife before then fleeing.

"We suspect it was a brutal, brutal attack on his mother," Bartram said. There had been no previous incidents of violence between the mother and son who lived together.

Dallas Morning News staff writer Scott Goldstein contributed to this report.