Police charge that a 20-year-old Ohio mother who was “speaking of demons” decapitated her 3-month-old daughter during a mental breakdown early this week.
The woman, Deasia Watkins, was reportedly suffering from post-partum depression when police say she stabbed her baby so many times that the child was decapitated.
Local Cincinnati media reported that many family members were fully aware that the young mother was suffering mental problems. In fact, Watkins had been hospitalized briefly on March 6 for psychiatric problems. Records show she had been diagnosed with post-partum psychosis.
The baby’s father is quoted in court documents as saying that Watkins was “acting crazy lately, speaking of demons.”
Caretha White, Watkins’s aunt, blamed Hamilton County Jobs and Family Services for the baby’s death.
“This could have been avoided, seriously,” White told Fox 19. “Job and Family Services needed to be more on their A-game, investigate more in-depth with people.”
Police report that Watkins seemed completely unresponsive when they arrived on the scene. In fact, first responders report that the woman was unconscious “with her eyes open” when they took her into custody.
Officials also report that Watkins smelled of marijuana when arrested.
It is unclear why the baby was in the mother’s custody as courts had ruled that the child be placed with relatives.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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