Mother beheads her 3-month-old baby and places a knife in baby’s hand to mislead cops; aunt walks in and screams in horror

Most parents love and care for their children, and instances of abuse or neglect are relatively rare. Although these kinds of instances are considered rare, some parents do bad things to their children, and the reasons for that kind of behavior can be varied and complex and may include mental health issues, substance abuse, financial stress, and a history of abuse or trauma. In this case, a woman did the unthinkable to her 3-month-old daughter. A chilling 911 call made from inside a home where a mother allegedly beheaded her baby revealed the chaotic scene after the body was found.

20-year-old Deasia had gone to bed after allegedly decapitating her baby, Janiyah, and repeatedly stabbing her body, leaving relatives to find the girl’s remains. Deasia’s aunt, who had custody of the child, made the 911 call. ‘Somebody please send the police!’ the aunt can be heard begging in the call. ‘My niece killed our baby! Please! Help me!’ Through her sobs, the woman explains she was sleeping when her adult son brought his children over to her house to be picked up for school and discovered the body. “My son came in here and woke me up, saying, “Momma, the baby’s dead,” she says. Overcome with emotion, she is unable to speak, and her son takes the phone. The 911 dispatcher presses him for details about what happened. “Lady, the baby is on my mom’s kitchen counter with its head smashed,’ the man says. ‘Can you please just send the police as fast as you can?” He adds that he does not know where his cousin, Deasia, is and pleads with the dispatcher to send police before the young woman is able to hurt herself.

Trying to piece together what has happened, the dispatcher asks the man if the baby is breathing. “Listen, lady, the baby is deceased,” he says, as his mother wails in the background. When the dispatcher pushes for more details, he says bluntly: ‘Look, lady. I don’t want to describe the scene. The [scene] is very, very bad, alright? The little baby’s head is open. Like, open open. “I’m not going in there to touch anything because I don’t want to mess anything up. I’m not going in there to look, because I’ve already seen it. But it’s very violent. It’s a very violent scene.” Police arrived at the home to find the decapitated baby. The child had been stabbed 15 times and had a fractured arm, and the knife had been placed in her hand. Deasia was found covered in blood and asleep in a bedroom, and she was arrested for aggravated murder. She was taken to the hospital for mental evaluation.

The horrific killing came after Deasia had been forbidden to have contact with the child after she was hospitalized for psychiatric problems, authorities said. But the aunt had apparently let Deasia move in with her and the baby a week earlier. Authorities were unaware of this because they could not constantly monitor the home, Prosecutor Joe said. The court had heard how the deranged killer had placed the knife in the dead child’s hand to make the cops think her daughter had slaughtered herself. “She confessed later to police that she did that so people would think the child did it and not her,” Assistant Prosecutor David said in court. Deasia pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. We are republishing this story amid recent reports that violent crime has surged in the United States during the pandemic.