Posted on 11/23/2004 6:11:41 AM PST by mtbopfuyn
PLANO, Texas (AP) -- A woman with a history of postpartum depression cut off the arms of her baby daughter Monday, then called 911 and waited calmly until police arrived, authorities said.
"She wasn't trying to hide," police spokesman Carl Duke said.
Dena Schlosser, 35, was charged with capital murder after the girl died at a hospital in Plano, a Dallas suburb. Child-protection authorities said the mother had shown signs of postpartum depression in the past, but there had been no signs of violence.
Authorities said when they arrived at the family's apartment, they found the nearly 11-month-old baby in a bedroom with her arms severed. Schlosser, covered in blood, was sitting in her living room.
It was not immediately clear what Schlosser used to sever the baby's arms, police said.
Schlosser lived at the apartment with other family members, including her two older daughters. The girls, ages 6 and 9, were at school and their father was at work when police arrived, Duke said.
Texas Child Protective Services was called to the home in January after Schlosser was seen running down the street from her apartment, with one of her daughters, then 5, bicycling after her, authorities said. When police and CPS arrived, the child told them her mother had left her 6-day-old baby sister alone in the apartment.
Schlosser appeared at the time to be suffering from postpartum depression and seemed to be having a psychotic episode, said Marissa Gonzales, a CPS spokeswoman.
Schlosser was hospitalized for a few days. Her other two daughters were released to their father, who told authorities Schlosser had been acting strangely since the birth of the third child.
Once she was released from the hospital, Schlosser agreed to seek counseling and see a psychiatrist, Gonzales said. Caseworkers continued to visit the family through the spring and summer, and the case was closed Aug. 9.
"There were never any indications of violence with this family," Gonzales said. "The children had always been healthy, happy and cared for."
Gonzales said CPS was interviewing Schlosser's other children and would talk to the father before deciding whether to remove the children from the home.
No one answered the door Monday night at the family's apartment.
Neighbors said she seemed to be a loving, attentive mother.
Dena Livingston, 43, said she saw Schlosser making her rounds with the stroller on Sunday. She saw her Friday waiting with her baby outside the school the older girls attend.
"She didn't give off like she was in a distant world or didn't care about the baby," Livingston said.
Twelve-year-old Fernando Pereira said he watched Schlosser buckle her children's seat belts and lock their car doors each morning as they headed off to school.
"All I saw in the morning was kisses and she gave them hugs. That was it," he said. "She never said anything bad or rude to her children."
Unbelievable.
Just get a rope.
FRY HER.
This is an article that I wish I had never read.
So why is she permitted to have children unsupervised???
I did search and nothing came back.
My stomach is turning. She has a room waiting for her in Hell next to Hitler.
Words fail me. Poor little baby.
So true. I literally makes me nauseous to read violence against children.
They should cut her f'in arms off...slowly...with a butter knife.
I wonder - was she on some medication ?
SSRI ??
No kidding, even the headline is too much (for all you "just don't read it" types. I refuse to read the article.
There was a time when a proper punishment would be found for such a monster. Now the more horrifying the crime, the more likely it is that the forces of "understanding" will close around the perp so that she hardly sees the inside of a jail cell.
This monster should be torn apart by wild horses.
Isn't 11 months a bit long for postpartum depression? Somebody out there please educate me. It just doesn't make sense to me.
Pyschosis or evil. Utterly horrible.
if she would have done it 12 months earlier she would have the best lawyers of the ACLU protecting her.
Family friend always got PPD after each birth. She KNEW the signs and IMMEDIATELY sought help. I'm sorry...I just don't buy the PPD excuse.
WebMD states 3 months is timeframe for postpartum depression.
http://my.webmd.com/hw/depression/tn9167.asp?lastselectedguid={5FE84E90-BC77-4056-A91C-9531713CA348}
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