Ohio mother charged with infant’s beheading
Published 8:30 pm Tuesday, March 17, 2015
An Ohio woman faces criminal charges after police said she beheaded her infant daughter on Monday.
De’Asia Watkins was arrested and charged with aggravated murder by the Cincinnati Police Department’s Homicide Unit for the decapitation death of her 3-month-old daughter.
According to Cincinnati Police, officers responded to call of a reported deceased infant. When they arrived, they found the infant girl dead inside.
“There were multiple stab wounds to the right side of the (baby’s) face and head,” Hamilton County Coroner Dr. Lakshmi Sammarco told local affiliate WCPO. “(The baby had) a fractured right arm… and the head was severed from the body.”
Cincinnati Police Department Director of Communications Tiffaney Hardy described the home as a “horrific scene” that three young children related to Watkins and the victim happened to stumble into unknowingly before Watkins’ aunt called police.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters provided further details Tuesday to area media, confirming that the infant was found lifeless on the kitchen counter by a 5-year-old relative with the knife used to harm the child found in the dead infant’s hand.
According to Deters, Watkins was found in a bed at the home, covered in blood.
Court records show that Watkins was visited by Cheviot, Ohio authorities in late January who reported her as “so high from marijuana that she was incoherent” and a male living with Watkins at the time described her as “talking in tongues and acting crazy.”
During this visit, authorities had to contact EMS and wrestle the child from Watkins. As a result, custody was temporarily provided to Hamilton County Job & Family Services.
Afterward, Watkins was diagnosed with postpartum psychosis, and custody of her infant daughter was turned over to Watkins’ aunt earlier this month, who soon after allowed Watkins to come stay with her prior to the infant’s death, according to Deters.
Watkins, now formally charged with the death of her daughter, is at the area’s Deaconess Hospital under watch care.