A woman who recently moved to Biddeford was charged with attempted murder in Florida after police say she attacked a sleeping man with a machete in an attempt to convince the victim’s wife to run away with her.

Sarasota County sheriff’s deputies were called to a Venice, Florida, address late Sunday night for a reported burglary in progress.

Police say Alana Gibson, 27, broke into a home there and attacked a resident with a machete as he slept next to his wife, according to an arrest affidavit. Gibson inflicted life-threatening injuries on the man, police said.

When the wife woke and tried to stop the attack, Gibson tried to strangle her, police said.

Gibson fled the home as police arrived and led officers on a 19-mile car chase before being taken into custody. Gibson, who had recently moved from Venice to Biddeford, told investigators during an interview that she wanted to kill the man so his wife could run away with her.

Gibson had made the decision to drive to Florida from Maine while on her way to a job interview in Maine, she told police, and planned to murder the man she said was not deserving of the woman she sought to woo, according to the affidavit.