An apparent carjacking attempt described as a random act of violence has taken the life of a 45-year-old Albion woman and led to the capture of an illegal immigrant charged with her murder, Orleans County sheriff's officials said Monday.

Kathleen I. Byham was walking toward her car in the Walmart Supercenter parking lot in the Town of Albion shortly after 7 p.m. Sunday when she was accosted and stabbed multiple times, Sheriff Scott D. Hess reported. She was taken to Medina Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 7:40 p.m.

A massive search, aided by K-9 dogs and a State Police helicopter, led to the apprehension of Luis A. Rodriguez-Flamenco, 24, identified by authorities as a Honduran national.

He was charged with second-degree murder and sent to the Orleans County Jail without bail after arraignment before Albion Town Justice K.J. Howard.

Sheriff's officials noted that this was the second homicide in Orleans County this year that led to murder charges against an illegal immigrant.

"We're a small, rural community here, about 44,000 people altogether in the county, and yet we've had two incidents with this common denominator," Undersheriff Steven D. Smith said late Monday. "I think it's unusual."

The earlier killing, on Jan. 15, led to the arrest of Carlos Cardenas, 21. He's accused of raping and strangling his sister-in-law, Katherine "Katy" Sanchez, 15, after they reportedly had consensual sex and she threatened to tell his wife.

After Sunday night's killing, authorities emphasized they have no evidence suggesting that Byham and her attacker knew each other. Investigators believe the assailant targeted her only after she left the store and walked toward her car.

"Our suspicion at this point is that he was trying to carjack her, even though she wasn't in the car," Smith said. Rodriguez-Flamenco must have somehow gotten her car keys, because he had them when he fled on foot, authorities said.

Eyewitness descriptions and Walmart security video were crucial in the apprehension of the suspect, authorities said. The search involved numerous federal, state, county and local law enforcement officers, including the State Police, Albion police, the Niagara County Sheriff's Office and the Buffalo police.

Albion police, armed with the physical descriptions and the store-security video, reached out to their contacts and learned the possible names of the three people who fled from the scene after the attack.

Rodriguez-Flamenco was apprehended at an Albion residence where he was staying, some time around 9 p.m. Sunday. Investigators have no information about where, if anywhere, he was working.

Two other men described as Mexican nationals and illegal immigrants were seized at another residence. While they accompanied Rodriguez-Flamenco to the Walmart, they did not participate in the attack, sheriff's officials said. They were turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Early Monday afternoon, investigators recovered two knives in a field along the route where the suspected attacker fled. They have been sent to a police lab to determine whether either was used in the attack.

gwarner@buffnews.com null