POMPANO BEACH, Fla. — A man brought into a Broward hospital for a so-called “suicide attempt” was actually a victim of an attempted murder at the hands of his girlfriend, authorities said they determined after speaking to a skeptical surgeon.

Deputies said the victim, after surviving the Pompano Beach attack with a neck wound, called girlfriend Cleo Danielle Ranger, who has a documented history of mental health problems, “crazy.”

They said Ranger, 26, of Fort Lauderdale, told investigators after the crime that she believed her boyfriend of six months was actually a “clone.”

Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Ranger over the weekend in connection with the stabbing, which they said happened on Friday at a home in the 1600 block of Northeast 48th Court.

Deputies said they responded to the area after a reported “suicide attempt” and found the victim passed out in the driveway. A BSO arrest report states that a surgeon at Broward Health North said the his wound didn’t correspond with a typical suicide attempt and instead “appeared to have been caused by an upward motion puncture from a knife.”

Ranger, the report states, told deputies that the stabbing was “foul play” and that the victim “was a clone of her boyfriend and that (he) was not really (himself).” Deputies said she had a history of mental health commitments under the Baker Act.

Deputies said after conducting a “protective sweep” of the home, they found a large pool of blood in the kitchen, bloody footprints and three bloodied knives.

They said on Saturday, Ranger’s boyfriend had his breathing tube removed and was able to speak with them. According to the report, he said Ranger had given him kava, which he drank, causing him to become “lethargic” before the attack.

“After talking about the incident, (he) became very upset, his blood pressure became high and (he) started bleeding from his neck wound,” BSO Detective Jennifer Petrovsky wrote.

Deputies said after walking out for a few minutes, a detective asked the man “who stabbed him and provided (him) with a piece of paper where (he) wrote the suspect was Cleo Ranger.”

“When asked if the named individual is responsible for the incident, (he) responded in the affirmative stating, ‘Yes’ and saying ‘this girl is crazy’ as becomes visibly emotional and begins to cry and makes hand gestures as if there was a struggle,” Petrovsky wrote.

Deputies arrested Ranger on Sunday, records show.

As of Tuesday, she was being held without bond at BSO’s North Broward Bureau jail facility in Pompano Beach.

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