A woman accused of decapitating her 3-month-old daughter had been ordered by a court to stay away from the child, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
Deasia Watkins
had been forbidden to have contact with the baby after she was
hospitalized for psychiatric problems, authorities said.
The
baby had been placed in an aunt's custody, and a 5-year-old at the
aunt's house with other children to catch a school bus on Monday found
the baby's body on a kitchen counter, Hamilton County prosecutor Joe
Deters said. The aunt apparently was asleep, and the child ran outside
for help from a male relative who had dropped them off, Deters said.
Police arriving in response to a 911 call found the baby decapitated and stabbed multiple times with a large chef's knife.
The aunt apparently had let the baby's mother move in with her and the baby about a week earlier, Deters said.
Police found the 20-year-old mother in bed covered with blood, he said, and she was arrested and charged with aggravated murder.
"This is one of the most disturbing cases I have ever seen in my life," Deters said.
The
baby's injuries also included a fractured arm, county coroner Dr.
Lakshmi Sammarco said. The knife used to kill the baby had been placed
in the baby's hand, authorities said.
"These are images that will be indelibly marked in my memory," Sammarco said.
Deters
said the mother hadn't spoken and remained under guard at a hospital,
where she couldn't be reached for comment. The prosecutor said he
doesn't anticipate seeking the death penalty in the case.
"It was pretty clear to the officers involved that she is suffering from some serious mental issues," Deters said.
In
the 911 call, a woman who apparently was the aunt can be heard crying
hysterically and asking for help while repeating, "Oh, my God!"
"My niece killed her baby," she said.She told the dispatcher that she was asleep when her son, who had come to drop off the children, came in and woke her up, saying the baby was dead.
The son then told the dispatcher that he had seen the baby's body on the kitchen counter but did not know what happened.
"It's a very violent scene," he said.
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