TX - Margaret Schlosser, 10 mos, arms cut off, dies, Plano, 22 Nov 2004 *Insanity*

[georgiagirl]

McKINNEY, Texas (AP) — A woman accused of killing her 10-month-old daughter by cutting off the baby's arms with a kitchen knife went on trial Monday after pleading not guilty by reason of insanity.



Police found Dena Schlosser, 37, covered in blood in her kitchen, still holding a knife and listening to a church hymn.

During opening statements, her attorney said Schlosser clearly did not know right from wrong during the November 2004 slaying of baby Margaret. "This is somebody who at the time was not capable of knowing what she was doing was wrong," defense attorney William Schultz said. "She didn't see it coming. ... Normally Dena is a sweet woman. She cares, she has compassion."

more:furious:
http://www.courttv.com/trials/news/0206/021406_dena_schlosser_ap.html

 

[Jeana (DP)]

Husband: Schlosser needed help

MCKINNEY - The husband of a woman accused of killing her baby girl testified Tuesday morning that he didn’t call 911 when his wife told him she cut their baby’s arms off because he didn’t believe her.

Maggie Schlosser was killed in November 2004 just before Thanksgiving in the family's Plano apartment. Dena Schlosser has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

* * *

He told the jury of five women and seven men that he never thought of calling 911.

“She had a tone of voice I had never heard before – emotionless,” he said.

Mr. Schlosser said he called the family’s pastor instead of 911 to see if someone could check on his wife at their Plano apartment. The pastor – a charismatic self-proclaimed apostle – told Mr. Schlosser to call a fellow church member. Mr. Schlosser called Carolyn Thomas at the daycare where she worked. Ms. Thomas, also Ms. Schlosser’s best friend, called her friend to find out what happened. Other day care workers called 911.

* * *

He testified Tuesday morning that he should have sought help when she first showed odd behavior -- the day after their daughter was born, when she cut her left wrist with a pair of scissors.

"It was something that needed a Band-aid," he said in a McKinney courtroom. "It wasn't something I had any experience with."

* * *

“I gave her a call and told her she should listen to music from the church because it was something she enjoyed,” he said.

* * *

Ms. Schlosser, 37, was diagnosed with postpartum psychosis after she ran out of the apartment just days after Maggie was born, leaving the baby alone. Another time, she left the apartment in the middle of the night and went to the hospital, where she was found on the bathroom floor.

* * *
www.dallasnews.com

 

[Jeana (DP)]

Like Andrea Yates, this family had too much to do with a wack job preacher. :doh:

 

[angrymom]

The picture of her in that article gives me the chills.

 

[cathieq]

I've been following this case closely...Imagine..all those defensive marks on that baby as she fought the pain...The mom's eyes don't look human...

 

[reb]

"She had a tone of voice I had never heard before – emotionless,” he said.... AND YET HE "DIDN'T FEEL THE NEED TO CALL 911".......????

it's quite obvious here, the husband's elevator doesn't go all the way to the top floor!

 

[Opie]

Could we make him a cellmate with Rusty Yates? I think both of them deserve to be in prison. Is there a law against stupidity beyond a reasonable doubt?

 

[Jeana (DP)]

Could we make him a cellmate with Rusty Yates? I think both of them deserve to be in prison. Is there a law against stupidity beyond a reasonable doubt?

Unfortunately, no. However, there are child endangerment laws and I think that the district attorneys need to consider these laws when its apparent that these fathers continue to leave their obviously wacked out wives alone with their children.

 

[Jeana (DP)]

McKINNEY - A Plano police officer testified this morning he almost quit after he responded to an apartment and saw a baby girl dead in her crib, her arms severed at the shoulders.

Officer Mike Letzelter was the second to arrive at the Plano apartment of Dena Schlosser. Ms.Schlosser is standing trial for capital murder and is accused of cutting off the arms of 10-month-old Maggie Schlosser. She has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

A former Marine and member of the Plano bomb squad, Officer Letzelter said he'd rather diffuse a bomb that could blow him into a million pieces than relive the horror of the apartment that rainy November day in 2004.

"I was completely played out in emotion in police work," he testified as a witness for the defense. "I had nothing left to give."

Officer Letzelter, who had been involved earlier that year when Ms. Schlosser was first diagnosed with postpartum psychosis, said he wondered why intervention attempts did not work.

This is the third day of testimony. The state rested its case Tuesday.

www.dallasnews.com

 

[kathrynr448]

Like Andrea Yates, this family had too much to do with a wack job preacher. :doh:

After just reading the pastors testimony at your Dallas news link, I'd say you're absolutely right. He testified that he believes demons cause mental illness..in all cases.

 

[Jeana (DP)]

Former stepfather: No way Schlosser was in right mind

McKINNEY – The man Dena Schlosser calls “daddy” testified this morning there is “no way” she would have hurt her daughter had she been in her right mind.

“There is no way that I feel Dena, had she been in her right mind, that Dena would have done this,” her former stepfather Bob Nicholas said. “I can’t reconcile it.”

* * *

Mr. Nicholas testified he found out about Maggie’s death on the Internet. Ms. Schlosser’s husband John left a message that Ms. Schlosser was in jail the night of the baby’s death. He did not hear the message the following day. The message did not say why Ms. Schlosser was in jail.

“I screamed,” Mr. Nicholas said when he found out what happened. His voice cracked, and he visibly held back tears as he spoke.

Mr. Nicholas also described a series of brain surgeries Ms. Schlosser underwent as a child to alleviate fluid build up in the brain. She underwent at least eight surgeries where five holes were drilled into her skull. Doctors put in a shunt to relieve the fluid. There were numerous shunt malfunctions, and the surgery had to be done again.

Sherry Wing, a mental health counselor at the Collin County Jail, testified that Ms. Schlosser told her about a series of hallucinations she experienced in the months after Maggie's birth.

Wing said Ms. Schlosser told her she saw blood-covered streets and thought words from the Bible jumped out at her. She also said she thought television programs were about her.

***

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/021706dnmetschlosser.3270cc54.html

 

[tybee204]

Janet it is a violation of TOS to attack a poster. You might consider reviewing the TOS you agreed to upon registration.

 

[cathieq]

I wanted to know a little more about their minister. Below is his website:

http://www.doyledavidson.com/
He talks about the trial under Under News of Interest:

Tidbit:
I want to say that I thank God for the opportunity to have testified on my behalf ...able to confront and to clear up many false accusations that have been made against me... During that time, I noticed a woman sitting behind two defense attorneys, with a slumped over attitude, who appeared greatly depressed. I would wonder from time to time, "Who is this woman and what is she doing sitting there?" As the questions moved more toward the things of the gospel, the things of the Spirit, I noticed her head rising up and she started looking at me. I thought, "My goodness, this is Dena Schlosser." I could see the words I was speaking were ministering life to her spirit, and it was an encouragement to me about the future of her life...Doyle Davidson

Also, the pictures he's posted of his house is interesting......

 

[Jeana (DP)]

Counselor: Schlosser feared end of days

McKINNEY – Dena Schlosser believed that the end of days was coming and that she was following God's instructions when she used a kitchen knife to kill her 10-month-old daughter, a mental health counselor testified Thursday.

On the fourth day of Ms. Schlosser's capital murder trial, a counselor detailed religious thoughts and hallucinations that Ms. Schlosser described once she was taken into custody: streets of blood, a little boy she believed was Jesus, television programs that spoke to her.

Ms. Schlosser said she experienced the images while suffering from postpartum psychosis after her daughter's birth, said Sherry Wing, a counselor at the Collin County Jail.

Ms. Schlosser, 37, is accused of severing her daughter Maggie's arms at the shoulders. She has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

* * *

Ms. Wing testified that Ms. Schlosser once heard the sound of a chainsaw and thought people were building an ark, as in the biblical story of Noah. Ms. Schlosser again thought it was a sign of the end of the word.

She thought Ariel in the children's movie The Little Mermaid was speaking to her, saying she should throw away the things she sang about in the movie.

Ms. Schlosser told Ms. Wing she thought Maggie was supposed to be given to the family's charismatic minister, self-proclaimed prophet and apostle Doyle Davidson, who leads Water of Life church in Plano.

"She thought Maggie was to marry Doyle," Ms. Wing said. There was no other testimony about why Ms. Schlosser believed this or when she thought the marriage should occur.
* * *

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/021706dnmetschlosser.3270cc54.html

 

[Jeana (DP)]

I don't understand why children can't be removed from homes like this when the parent is going mental????? I can't imagine what the other two little girls had to go through before this woman finally snapped. Its obvious the father of the children is oblivious and it makes me sick to think these two little girls will be forced to remain with him. Something tells me we'll probably hear more from this family in the future. Chances are this preacher will end up marrying one of them in the future or something equally sick.

 

[Goody]

I don't understand why children can't be removed from homes like this when the parent is going mental????? I can't imagine what the other two little girls had to go through before this woman finally snapped. Its obvious the father of the children is oblivious and it makes me sick to think these two little girls will be forced to remain with him. Something tells me we'll probably hear more from this family in the future. Chances are this preacher will end up marrying one of them in the future or something equally sick.

The church is in Plano, too. <shudder> Funny how that one keeps popping up.

This is a horrible story but when the mother is totally whacked what do you do?

 

[Jeana (DP)]

The church is in Plano, too. <shudder> Funny how that one keeps popping up.

This is a horrible story but when the mother is totally whacked what do you do?

Well, I guess if the jury believes she's totally whacked, she'll go to a mental hospital for the "criminally insane" until such time as they deem her to no longer be a danger to herself or the community. That could be never. The state isn't asking for the death penalty, so the jury may just send her to prison for life and not take the insanity into consideration.

 

[Jeana (DP)]

MCKINNEY - A forensic psychiatrist testifying for the defense told the jury Tuesday morning that Dena Schlosser's husband and church prevented her from getting the proper psychiatric care.

"It very much appears Ms. Schlosser was kept from adequate treatment ... when she needed it and when she wanted it," William H. Reid said. "It's very sad."

Dr. Reid told the jury of five women and seven men that Ms. Schlosser was very dependent on her husband, John Schlosser, to tell her what to do. In jail, she has often been at a loss when she needed to make a decision.

She often says, "'I don't know what to do' - implying 'tell me what to do,' " Dr. Reid said.

Dr. Reid is expected to be the last defense witness.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/022206dnmetschlosser.4c25b782.html

 

[Marine Mom]

Dr. Reid told the jury of five women and seven men that Ms. Schlosser was very dependent on her husband, John Schlosser, to tell her what to do. In jail, she has often been at a loss when she needed to make a decision.

She often says, "'I don't know what to do' - implying 'tell me what to do,' " Dr. Reid said.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/022206dnmetschlosser.4c25b782.html

Apparently she can make some decisions on her own.

 

[~wildangel~]

EWWW i hope she burns in hell:behindbar

Insanity maybe, cruel & sick, deffinatly:razz: