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}
Yep, we found her...exchange THIS woman for the decent people that are trying to help the people of Iraq, as an al-Zarkawi hostage.
Dark day in Plano. Sun hasn't shined for over a week.
wow, it took 15 posts this time to get abortion mentioned
Horrible details...yet true. It is hard to cut up a chicken. I don't buy the "depression" cover, either. Depression makes mothers neglectful,uncaring. It would take alot to do to a baby at 11 months what this woman did. She is crazy and evil. God will hold this child in his hands, and lets hope this mother gets what she deserves here on earth...true judgement will come to her soon enough.
This is a sickening story and this woman deserves to pay the ultimate price for this torture of a helpless baby.
But I wonder what the father is going to say and whether he comes to the support of his wife or whether he condemns her and takes full custody of the two remaining daughters.
This is a tragedy no matter what happens from here.
i was actually surprised myself that nobody made the comment i did right away. it seems appropriate.
I'm there with you. Despicable.
It's horrible enough to use any method to murder your own child, but what kind of depravity brings you to the point where you could do something like this?
I've seen it go longer.
As an example I would point to my ex.
18 years and counting ;o)
Apparently so. Wasn't the woman who drowned her kids in the bathtub a few years ago from Texas and didn't she claim PPD?
Sick.
Terrible tragedy.
I really think the mother should be put down, the kindest thing one could do.
I heard the 911 call. She was as calm as can be. evil.
It ok, you've just been pulled over by the double post police. Nothing to see here, move along.
Damn friggin' caseworkers, you can't make any value judgement on people nowadays even when they're having a psychotic episode.
Guess its pointless to try to figure this out, I sure can't. Prayers for the innocent baby, but I don't feel so Christianly towards that psycho broad who killed her. Fry her.
What IS it with these women? They have a baby, get so psychotic that they're hospitalized, and then they *have another one.*
Thanks, I knew some knowledgeble FReeper out there would come through. 3 months sounds more reasonable.
I don't buy the PPD excuse either, there's something very wrong with this woman.
This is more than postpartum depression. And as mentioned in the article, she had shown psychotic symptoms before. Same story as Andrea Yates. There's obviously a huge problem, but everybody involved pretends there isn't, until it's too late.
I know if I were him, it would take all my will power to restrain myself from ripping her apart.
Reading stories like this, I can't help but think about what I would do if my wife were to do something on par with this to our kids. If ANYONE were to touch my kids, they better have a will already written out and notarized.
"I don't buy the "depression" cover, either. Depression makes mothers neglectful,uncaring. It would take alot to do to a baby at 11 months what this woman did."
They're using the term depression here, but I think post-partum psychosis would be the more correct term. They're not the same thing. If she'd been hospitalized for a psychotic episode, she never should've been left alone with those children. Crazy doesn't just go away with a few visits to a shrink.
"She is crazy and evil."
If she's not crazy, then she's evil. If she's crazy, then she's not evil.
I have been sick all morning thinking about this I wish I had not read it also.
Why did the dad call the day care center to check on the woman, why not just call home himself.
I didn't understand that either. Was the baby normally in daycare maybe?? And why would the dad call unless he had suspicions??
There are 3 degrees of this postpartum syndrome:
1) postpartum blues
2) postpartum depression
3) postpartum psychosis (ding ding. it looks like we got a winner!)
Excellent points.
Why does it seem that weird stuff always happens in Texas?
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