Tornado Alley (PROG)

[F6]

Woman who killed daughter said she wanted to give child to God

BY JENNIFER EMILY AND TIM WYATT
The Dallas Morning News

Posted on Tue, Nov. 23, 2004

DALLAS - (KRT) - The night before a Plano, Texas, homemaker killed her 10-month-old daughter, she told her husband she wanted to "give her child to God," court documents say.

The following morning, records show, 35-year-old Dena Schlosser called her husband, John, at work and told him she had cut off the arms of their youngest daughter, Margaret Elizabeth.

Child Protective Services took custody of the couple's surviving daughters, ages 6 and 9, when their mother was charged with capital murder Monday.

The agency asked a judge Tuesday to terminate the parental rights of both parents, stating that Schlosser did not protect Margaret from his wife.

Caseworker Jennifer Leung interviewed Schlosser and said, "He did not appear to be alarmed by the comment or see it as a sign that Schlosser would harm their child," according to an affidavit.

Schlosser worked at Children's World Learning Center in Plano before the birth of her daughter in January. CPS records show she was treated for postpartum depression for much the year and was deemed stable in August. According to public records, Schlosser does not have a criminal record.

Schlosser called the day-care center Monday morning after his wife called him and told him she had cut the baby's arms off, court records say.

He asked a woman there to check on his wife while he drove home from work in Arlington. She called Schlosser and asked a co-worker to call 911. A dispatcher called Schlosser, who told him, "I cut her arms off," according to the 911 recording.

When police arrived, Schlosser still had a knife in her hand, court records show. Plano Officer David Tilley coaxed the knife away from her. Police found Margaret lying in her crib in the back bedroom, her arms severed at the shoulders.

Plano police said Tuesday that they were still searching for answers as to why Schlosser might hurt her baby. They still need to interview friends and family.

"We don't know," Plano police spokesman Officer Carl Duke said somberly. "It's still too soon for that."

Schlosser has not cooperated with investigators beyond her initial statement, police said.

Investigators who searched the Schlossers' apartment took three Bibles, a letter from CPS, linens, a piece of carpet, a Winnie the Pooh rug and a computer, according to an inventory filed with the court.

John Schlosser left the family's apartment Tuesday afternoon accompanied by Plano police. He loaded black suitcases and a canvas bag into a white Jeep Wrangler without commenting to reporters. A Plano police officer said Schlosser did not want to talk.

Schlosser declined an interview at the Collin County jail, where she is being held without bond. She does not yet have an attorney.

Court records state that the Schlossers have no relatives living in North Texas. The couple has also lived in a half-dozen Illinois towns that skirt the Chicago area, but no relatives could be found.

Other records show that the couple moved from a house in northeast Fort Worth to their apartment on Coit Road about October 2003.

In May 2002, Schlosser operated a business out of his Fort Worth home - Shepherd Technologies - but phone numbers for the company have been disconnected.

Jeannie Johanningmeier, who lived across the street from the Schlossers in Fort Worth, said, "I was shocked" to hear what happened.

Her sons went to school with the Schlossers' oldest daughter at Lone Star Elementary School, where the Schlossers were active leaders of the PTA. They also volunteered for the neighborhood association there.

"They seemed nice enough. They were really involved in the community. You'd see them out playing with their kids," Ms. Johanningmeier said. "We have boys that are a little older, so our kids didn't play together. But they seemed like a nice family."

The couple sporadically attended Water of Life Church in Plano, minister Doyle Davidson said. He said that he didn't know the family well and that he spoke with Schlosser on Monday night. He did not elaborate about what they talked about.

"They've just spoken to and been ministered to by various ministers here with me," Davidson said.

He said he did not know of anyone at the church who socialized with the couple and their children.

A mother of a girl who attends Children's World Learning Center said Schlosser evaluated her 3-year-old daughter's progress in the school. The mother did not want to be identified.

"She was so sweet. She was really, really nice. I would never have thought anything ... ," the woman said, her voice trailing off. "I never had any complaint from her."

Schlosser left the day-care center on maternity leave. Soon after in January, she received a diagnosis of postpartum depression after Child Protective Services investigated a neglect case.

An investigator was sent to the home Jan 15 after Schlosser was seen running down the street, followed by her then-5-year-old daughter. When police and CPS arrived, the child told them her mother left her 6-day-old sister inside alone. The child was not injured.

Schlosser, who was despondent, appeared to be suffering from postpartum depression, CPS said. She was hospitalized at a Collin County hospital where she was treated for several days.

The case was closed in August. CPS officials said Schlosser appeared to be doing well.

Medical professionals have not confirmed that Schlosser suffered from postpartum psychosis, but her behavior suggests that she did, said Leslie Hunt, executive director of the Postpartum Resource Center of Texas.

Hunt said women suffering from postpartum psychosis, or severe depression after childbirth, sometimes fill their minds with religious verse.

"The conscience is not there," Hunt said. "The person who was able to judge right from wrong, that person is not there. These women who commit these crimes are sometimes under delusions that they are saving their child's soul. God told them to do it. They're saving the child from the devil."

One out of 10 new mothers suffer postpartum depression, Hunt said. One in 1,000 suffer postpartum psychosis. Onset occurs shortly after birth, she said. Doctors can treat it with drugs to suppress depression and hallucinations.

Postpartum psychosis can return months later after treatment, Hunt said. Symptoms might not be obvious to family and friends. In the case involving Deanna Laney, who stoned her three sons to death last year near Tyler, the mental illness was invisible to her family. Laney was found not guilty by reason of insanity and has been undergoing treatment at Vernon State Hospital since shortly after the jury returned its verdict.

"Deanna Laney looked to her family like everything was fine," Hunt said. "She was also having delusions and planning the death of her children at the same time. It's a very deceptive illness."

Hunt also compared Ms. Schlosser's symptoms to Andrea Yates, who drowned her five children in the family's Houston bathtub in 2001. Yates calmly called 911 to report the drownings and told authorities that she killed her children because she feared they would otherwise be damned to hell. She was sentenced to life in prison. The defense contended Yates was incapacitated by schizophrenia and psychosis rooted in severe postpartum depression.

---

(Dallas Morning News correspondents Mike Jackson and Tiara M. Ellis contributed to this report.)

---

© 2004, The Dallas Morning News. (emphasis added)

Visit The Dallas Morning News on the World Wide Web at http://www.dallasnews.com

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/10257244.htm

[F6 note -- compare this carefully to the ideology and rationalization (as v. rationality, as there is none) of the Reconstructionists and Dominionists, as presented and discussed in the post to which this post is a reply and preceding and (other) following]