10th-April-2008
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 | Men's rights activist | | | |
Mom stabbed girl because of demon: police | |
Quote:
A Waukegan mother claimed her 6-year-old daughter attacked her with a butcher knife because the petite kindergartner was possessed by a demon, Lake County authorities said Tuesday.
Nelly Vazquez-Salazar insisted to investigators that she was defending herself when she fatally slashed and stabbed her 51-pound daughter, Evelyn, whom she had grown concerned about in recent months because the girl had started sleepwalking, authorities said.
Bloody knife found
The 25-year-old single mother was charged Tuesday with first degree-murder in the death of her only child, who was found slain early Monday in the Waukegan apartment they shared.
The youngster's throat was slashed and she had been stabbed 10 other times, including three times in the face, Lake County prosecutors said. A religious picture lying on the floor next to the girl also had been punctured by a knife, authorities said in court as they detailed the slaying and ripped Vazquez-Salazar's claims of how it occurred.
"She [Vazquez-Salazar] claimed the little girl was possessed by a demon," Assistant State's Attorney Stephen Scheller said, describing the child differently.
"She was an intelligent, vibrant, beautiful little girl. She was, in fact, an angel," Scheller said.
Vazquez-Salazar wept softly throughout the bond hearing but didn't speak. Her bond was set at $5 million and she remained under a suicide watch late Tuesday in the Lake County Jail.
The bizarre slaying shook even veteran police officers and prosecutors.
"A killing like this affects the whole community," said Waukegan Police Chief William Biang. "You never want to see a vibrant, active 6-year-old taken like this."
The little girl was found slain about 4:40 a.m. Monday after Vazquez-Salazar went to a neighbor's apartment and told them she thought she had killed her daughter.
A bloody butcher knife was found next to the girl, as was a framed religious picture that included St. Joseph, Mary and Jesus Christ, Scheller said. The faces of all three figures had been stabbed, he said.
| Mom stabbed girl because of demon: police |
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