Chicago mother denied bond after allegedly killing daughter, 5
Simone Austin allegedly stabbed her five-year-old daughter repeatedly, according to her other child, a witness.
WARNING: You may find the violent details of this story extremely disturbing.
A 27-year-old Chicago mother is facing first-degree murder charges after allegedly stabbing her five-year-old daughter to death on Saturday.
Simone Austin has been ordered to be held without bond.
Authorities say Austin stabbed her daughter, Serenity Arrington, inside their home, undressed her, then carried her body outside where she laid down next to her until police arrived.
During Monday’s bond hearing, the Cook County assistant state’s attorney, James Murphy, recounted the gruesome crime.
WTTW, a public television station in Chicago covered the hearing.
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According to the report, Austin’s elder daughter, an eight-year-old, told police that she and her sister had spilled some eggs and that their mother had threatened them with a knife. She said that her mother took her sister into a bedroom and closed the door.
The girl looked through a keyhole and saw her mother pull out a serrated knife and stab the five-year-old in the neck. She apparently tried to pull her mother off her little sister by the woman’s hair.
Austin’s father, Sylvester Washington, returned home from getting coffee with a friend and saw his daughter undressing the girl and called 911.
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The woman allegedly told emergency personnel that she “did it” and that she was sorry.
“It’s horrible, man. My own flesh-daughter did that. Man. Y’all don’t want to have this feeling. No, I can’t explain it,” Washington told ABC 7 Chicago.
“Keep that child in your thoughts and prayers,” Police Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said during a press conference Monday morning, pointing to the lifelong trauma she’ll now be forced to face.
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Police Superintendent David Brown said on Monday that his officers were also traumatized by the scene they witnessed.
“The death of a child by accident or disease is a tragedy,” he said. “The murder of a child is horrific. The murder of a child at the hands of their parent is too much.”
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