Mother severs her baby's arms

A woman with a history of depression told an emergency operator she had cut off the arms of her baby daughter, then waited calmly until police arrived.

Police found Dena Schlosser, 35, and the fatally injured baby after the child’s father called a day-care centre and asked them to check on his wife and daughter in the Dallas suburb of Plano.

Day-care workers called the police-fire emergency number after talking with Schlosser, and an operator then phoned the mother.

The operator asked Schlosser if there was an emergency, according to tapes released by police. Schlosser calmly responded: “Yes.”

“Exactly what happened?” the operator asked.

“I cut her arms off,” Schlosser replied, as the hymn He Touched Me played in the background.

Child-protection authorities said the mother had shown indications of postpartum depression in the past, but there had been no signs of violence.

Police said when they arrived at the family’s apartment, they found the nearly 11-month-old baby in a bedroom with her arms severed. Schlosser, covered in blood, was sitting in her living room. The child died at a hospital.

It was not immediately clear what instrument was used to sever the baby’s arms or why the baby’s father asked the day-care centre employees to check on his family.

Schlosser lived at the apartment with her husband and two older daughters, aged six and nine, who were at school at the time of the attack.

Neighbours said she seemed to be a loving, attentive mother.