A 45-year-old Seattle woman who was arrested Thursday evening allegedly stabbed her 4-year-old son to death in their home, according to court documents.
The woman, who The Seattle Times is not naming because she has not yet been charged, is being held in the King County Jail in lieu of $5 million bail.
A Seattle police detective wrote in a probable cause document that the father of the child called 911 Thursday afternoon from an apartment building in the Roosevelt neighborhood. The man told 911 that the woman was talking about suicide, and then he started screaming and said she killed him," according to the probable cause document.
Court papers say officers spoke with the man, who said he saw his 4-year-old son facedown in the bathtub, according to the document.
Officers knocked on the apartment unit's door and the 45-year-old woman stepped out with bloody hands, according to the probable cause. As officers handcuffed the woman, she reportedly said "he's gone" and "they made me do it."
Officers found the boy facedown, fully clothed, in about 4 inches of bloody water, the detective wrote. According to court documents, there was a large kitchen knife in the bathroom and the boy had been stabbed in the chest.
While being interviewed at Seattle Police Department headquarters, the woman said that her son was autistic and had been licking countertops and jumping around, according to the documents.
"She described being told that she 'needed' to 'sacrifice' (the boy) to 'protect' her and her family," the documents state.
The woman said it took several minutes for the boy to die and that she filled the bathtub with water because it would be "comforting for him, the detective wrote.
The woman's next court appearance is Tuesday.
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