Posted on 11/23/2004 11:57:32 AM PST by Jersey Republican Biker Chick
PLANO, Texas (AP) — With a calm and dispassionate voice and a hymn playing in the background, Dena Schlosser confessed to the unthinkable, telling a 911 operator she'd cut off the arms of her baby girl.
The woman was sitting in her living room covered with blood when police arrived Monday. Her nearly 11-month-old daughter lay fatally injured in a crib in a bedroom of the family's apartment in Plano. The child died shortly afterward at a nearby hospital.
Police have charged the 35-year-old mother with capital murder, but declined to reveal where she is being held.
Schlosser, who had a history of postpartum depression, had been investigated on child neglect allegations earlier this year, but Texas Child Protective Services had recently closed a seven-month investigation, concluding that Schlosser did not pose a risk to her children. Neighbors said she seemed to be a loving, attentive mother.
"There were never any indications of violence with this family," agency spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales said. "The children had always been healthy, happy and cared for."
But, on Monday, authorities discovered a grisly scene at the family's apartment after the child's father called a day-care center, and asked them to check on his wife and daughter.
Day-care workers called 911 after talking to the mother; an operator then called Schlosser.
Asked if there was an emergency, Schlosser calmly responded "Yes," according to 911 tapes released by police.
"Exactly what happened?" the 911 operator asked.
"I cut her arms off," Schlosser replied, as the hymn "He Touched Me" played in the background.
"You cut her arms off?" he repeated.
"Uh huh," she answered.
It was not immediately clear what instrument was used to sever the baby's arms or why the child's father called a day-care center to check on his family.
Schlosser lived at the apartment with other family members, including her two older daughters. Authorities said the girls, ages 6 and 9, were at school when police arrived, and that their father was at work.
No one answered the door Monday night at the family's apartment in suburban Dallas. Children's bicycles rested near the entrance along with angel garden statues.
Neighbors said Schlosser took her children swimming in the summer, had picnics in the courtyard and walked her baby around the complex the same time each afternoon.
Dena Livingston, 43, said she saw Schlosser making her rounds with the stroller on Sunday. Two days earlier, she saw Schlosser waiting with the baby outside the elementary school where her two other daughters attend.
"She didn't give off like she was in a distant world or didn't care about the baby," Livingston said.
Livingston's husband, Brad, added: "To see her with the girls, you would just think she was a great mother."
Child-protective officials were interviewing Schlosser's daughters and would talk to the father before deciding whether to remove the girls from the home.
In January, the agency was called to the home after Schlosser was seen running down the street, with one of her daughters bicycling after her, authorities said. When officials arrived, the child told them her mother had left her 6-day-old sister alone in the apartment.
Schlosser appeared at the time to be suffering from postpartum depression and having a psychotic episode, Gonzales said.
Schlosser was hospitalized, and later agreed to seek counseling and saw a psychiatrist, Gonzales said.
"At the time we closed the case, we had been assured that Mom was stabilized and that she was not a risk to herself or her children," Geoff Wool, spokesman for the Family and Protective Services Department, said.
Just shoot her. Really, this is going to be a big drag only to arrive at the inevitable conclusion that she's nuts and beyond repair. Just put her in the ground now and save the taxpayers some money. People like can;t go into the rehabilitation system because the moment they do, there's always the chance some moron of a doctor will declare her "cured" after a few years.
The cops need to drag the woman outside and shoot her in the head before NOW starts squawk'n about how the mom is the real victim.
At least it is Texas, maybe she will get the death penalty! I am all for eliminating the middle man and killing her now!
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Unbelievable how absolutely incompetent Social Services are - in every state, not just Texas. This caseworker should be charged and go to jail along with mama.
Why is this woman still breathing?
That poor baby...
That's nice.
Cut her arms off and let her bleed out.
We should send her to Iraq and let the insane terrorists cut her limbs off. At least they would be doing us a favor.
What the hell is wrong with people.
That baby never did anything to deserve such a gruesome death.
Folks need to read about saline abortions and dismemberment and extraction, etc. The abortion industry has been serially killing alive children for decades. The outrage and sadness over this murder is what is surprising. I've often thought it was impossible to prosecute a female who kills a child she is in the process of brithing. What part of 'a woman's right to choose' gets misinterpreted?
I'm sitting here now with my 10-day-old grandson. I think that I would rip the arms off of anyone who tried to hurt him. I felt the same way about his mother when she was a little baby.
14 posts & no one has blamed dad yet.
Exactly.
"At least it is Texas, maybe she will get the death penalty! I am all for eliminating the middle man and killing her now!"
Doubt she'll get the death penalty. Andrea Yates killed her five kids in Texas and she didn't get the death sentence. Unfortunately when it comes to women killing their kids, Texas hasn't lived up to it's reputation.
Then i guess someone should find a way to make an example of her.
I could not guard this woman in jail, because I don't think I could resist doing unto her what she did unto her baby!!
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