Mum accused of baby's grisly murder, stabbing girl 'at least 50 times'
WARNING – DISTRESSING CONTENT: A 35-year-old mum has been arrested accused of killing her baby son and stabbing her daughter.
Sarah Whitney Ganoe, from the US state of Virginia, was arrested at the scene and charged with second-degree murder, malicious wounding and two counts of felony child neglect on Monday (local time).
Newport News police officers responding to a report of a female in distress on that night found Winter Ganoe, 8, and Zell Howard, 10 months, with multiple stab wounds, police said.
According to court documents obtained by 13 News Now, Winter had “at least 50 stab wounds” and “evisceration to her abdomen”.
Officers began providing first aid, but Zell died at the scene. His sister was taken to a hospital, where she was in critical but stable condition, police said on Tuesday.
Police Chief Steve Drew said at a news conference on Tuesday officers described the incident as "horrific".
Both children had been stabbed with a five- to seven-centimetre pocket knife found nearby, he said.
"The thing they saw, they'll remember for the rest of their careers," Chief Drew said.
We obtained court documents this morning out of Newport News that reveal more details of what led lead up to 35-year-old mother, Sarah Ganoe, to stab her two children — killing one of them.
We’ll have the latest on @13NewsNow at Noon pic.twitter.com/bgiPwbHkpO— Anne Sparaco (@AnneSparaco) May 12, 2021
Police initially got a call from the infant’s father, who told them his fiancée was erratic and Ganoe had texted him with a disturbing message about what he would find when he got home, local news outlets reported.
Ganoe had told her partner “the house would be bloody when he got home”, according to the court documents.
Officers also asked Ganoe about a bite mark on her arm which she allegedly admitted Winter had bitten her “in an attempt to get free”.
Officers had been to the apartment before the stabbings, Chief Drew said.
with The Associated Press
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