Woman Reportedly Slits Throat of Infant Daughter

Pioneer Press ^ | Aug. 04, 2003 | LISA DONOVAN

[wallcrawlr]

35-year-old woman reportedly slit the throat of her 6-month-old daughter in St. Paul this morning, killing the baby, police said. Mine An Ener, who had apparently been suffering from depression, confessed to the slaying inside a home in the Desnoyer Park neighborhood on St. Paul’s western edge, police said.

About 9 a.m., Ener reportedly finished feeding the infant in a relative’s house in the 500 block of Desnoyer Avenue. She carried the baby into the bathroom and, moments later, walked out and told a relative in the house: "I think I killed the baby," said St. Paul police Sgt. Bruce Wynkoop.

The relative called 911 immediately. As medics tried to assist the baby, police took Ener into custody.

The slaying occurred at the home of a relative where Ener and her daughter, who reside in Pennsylvania, had been visiting for an undetermined amount of time, police said.

[wallcrawlr]

Abortion?

First prayers for the dead then justice on the living.

[Lijahsbubbe]

Too many parents killing their children lately. From drownings, to leaving them in cars, to stabbings. What the heck.

[Lunatic Fringe]

Who *cares* if she was "suffering" from depression? It cant be anything compared to the suffering this innocent child went through!

[Akira]

Here's another one you can extradite to Texas for swift justice, depression or not. This just makes me sick and I really wish I had not read it.

[CFC__VRWC]

At least we know what Katie Couric will be saying tomorrow - she'll be telling us all what a "wonderful mom" this woman was.

[SarahW]

I care because if the depression had been treated, her child would be alive.

I don't judge your lack sympathy for her suffering relative to her childs, but you might consider that recongnition and treatment of post-partum depression can prevent the suffering of children.

This wasn't baby blues, it was a pathologic chemical imbalance that could have been corrected with medicine.

[lmr]

There are more chemically imbalanced people who would never kill. Not under any circumstances.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

At least we know what Katie Couric will be saying tomorrow - she'll be telling us all what a "wonderful mom" this woman was.

And giving out the 800 number of her legal defense fund. Any woman who kills her post-partum children is a hero in Katie's perky eyes. (Killing 'em pre-partum is way too easy.)

[Mudbug]

This wasn't baby blues, it was a pathologic chemical imbalance that could have been corrected with medicine.

How can you know that?

[austinTparty]

No, this is when you go to a relative and say: "I'm scared I'm going to hurt my baby" and seek treatment. I know very well some people treated for severe post-partum depression--it's no joke. But it is also no excuse for murder.

[Mudbug]

There are more chemically imbalanced people who would never kill. Not under any circumstances.

Precisely! Moreover, there is no cure-all medication able to solve their problems.

[Intolerant in NJ]

The slaying occurred at the home of a relative where Ener and her daughter, who reside in Pennsylvania, had been visiting for an undetermined amount of time, police said ...woman is an associate professor of history at Villanova University in suburban Philly, according to local TV tonight...'nova is "deeply saddened".....

[KineticKitty]

"you might consider that recongnition and treatment of post-partum depression can prevent the suffering of children."

I agree with that statement 100%. But you must also consider the fact that people react to this information as possibly just another future excuse to help this parent skate out of the consequences of a guilty verdict. Which I tend to wonder myself when reading cases like this.

Yes, depression is sad, but some people are just getting sick of people claiming insanity, depression, or whatever after they commit such heinous crimes. I don't know about this case in particular, but I wonder with most of these kinds of cases, if it was so apparent, why didn't the criminal seek help before the crime was committed? Or better yet, why anyone that it was so obvious to (before the murder) like friends and family, 1/3 of the time never say anything until after said crime is committed?

If this mother did seek help and did not recieve it, or family or friends tried to alert proper agencies to a problem brewing, that is very sad, but still doesn't deflect the fact that she murdered her child. Even if she has depression, I have no sympathy for her unless it can be shown she was outright loony, which I doubt. But before this is over, I'm sure we'll all know.

If depression is a good enough excuse to murder someone, then I would suspect that at least 1/3 the population of the United States could be murdered tomorrow.

[jlogajan]

Sounds like postpartum depression. Women who suffer from it may have never felt depressed before. If it is extreme it can really screw them up.

[jlogajan]

Or postpartum psychosis.

[TheCrusader]

"Abortion?"

No, just another case of post partum depression. You know, that naturally occurring mental state that makes women kill their children from sea to shining sea. It's all quite normal and understandable you know. This is, after all, the 21st Century.

[wallcrawlr]

St. Paul infant dies; throat slit; mother arrested
Curt Brown, Star Tribune

Published August 5, 2003 HOMI05


St. Paul police have arrested a 38-year-old woman in the death of her daughter by allegedly slitting the infant's throat Monday morning while on a visit to her mother's house in the Desnoyer Park neighborhood.

Authorities found 6-month-old Raya Donagi bleeding and unconscious after her grandmother called 911 about 9 a.m.

Relatives told police that the girl's mother, Mine A. Ener, "had inflicted the fatal injuries to the infant," police Sgt. Janet Dunnom said.

Raya was pronounced dead at the scene, a one-story gray house on the 500 block of Desnoyer Av. The Ramsey County medical examiner's office will perform an autopsy on the infant, who was born Feb. 1.

Criminal charges were not filed Monday, but they could come as soon as today.

Police Cmdr. Nancy DiPerna said investigators recovered a knife that was allegedly used to cut the girl's neck.

"Paramedics came tearing out of the house with a very limp baby," said a neighbor, who requested anonymity. "They were running as fast as they could to the ambulance. But I knew something horrible had happened when I saw the firefighters crying."

Ener does not have a criminal record in St. Paul. DiPerna said Ener and her daughter had been living in Pennsylvania recently. No police calls had been reported to the St. Paul house for at least three years if not longer.

DiPerna declined to comment on a motive. She also declined to comment on whether Ener had a history of mental illness.

Raya's death is the second homicide involving a young child in St. Paul this summer. Last month, Naomi Gaines, 24, of St. Paul was charged with intentional second-degree murder and attempted intentional second-degree murder after she threw her twin infant boys off a bridge into the Mississippi River and then jumped herself. Onlookers pulled her and one of the boys to safety, but the other boy drowned.

Gaines was committed last week to the state security hospital for 60 days to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

[Z in Oregon]

Katie Couric will be saying how some man somewhere made this woman depressed and therefor is truly the one responsible for her killing the baby...and that the killer is a new feminist icon.

Welcome to Hell.

[KineticKitty]

That is a possibility, sure. But the article only states depression (for now). I'll definitely be watching this case to see how it turns out. There is not enough information at this time to say if it was or wasn't postpartum depression.

[Z in Oregon]

Actually, it was yet another cold-blooded killer snuffing out an innocent baby...something you're obviously just fine with.

Bet you're "pro-choice".