Tanishia Fielder: Mom Stabs Her Week-Old Baby In Eye Because God Ordered Her To Kill ‘Devil Baby,’ Cops Say
Tanishia Fielder, a 32-year-old mom who lives in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, suburb of Swissvale, is behind bars this week after committing a horrifying attack against her own newborn baby on Friday, September 8 — but the reason that she gave to police for the severe injuries she inflicted on the helpless infant has only left the community in even greater disbelief.
According to a police affidavit in the shocking case, when police arrived and arrested Fielder, the mom immediately confessed to a vicious knife attack against her child. Fielder stabbed the infant near the right eye. The child reportedly bled badly and sustained damage to the eye, but the baby’s specific condition was not revealed.
“I stabbed the baby. That’s the devil baby,” she told the arresting officers, according to the police report. Witnesses on the scene also heard Fielder ranting about “the devil,” according to interviews conducted by KDKA TV News in Pittsburgh.
“‘It was the Devil’s child.’ That just kept coming out of her mouth,” Darius Warren, a neighbor on the 7500 Block of Melrose Street in Swissvale, told the TV station. “I’m like, ‘Wow, that’s crazy.'”
Swissvale is a borough in Allegheny County, only about a 10 minute drive from downtown Pittsburgh. The borough has a reported population of fewer than 9,000 people. The Swissvale Police Department — when confronted with the horror of what the young mom who stabbed her baby had apparently done — called in the Allegheny County Police Department Homicide Division for assistance.
A mom is accused of stabbing her newborn. What she told police about why she did it is disturbing-tonight on Channel 11 pic.twitter.com/I0cSpbqjhd
— Lori Houy (@WPXI_Lori) September 10, 2017
The mom also stabbed the baby’s father, Darwin Hanner, who told the investigators that he and Fielder had an argument earlier on Friday, and that he had seen the mother of his new baby carrying a knife. Witnesses also reported seeing Fielder with the knife. It was those witnesses who intervened and attempted to help the baby and the dad, but Fielder also threatened them with the knife and forced them to leave the scene, according to a report by WPXI TV News in Pittsburgh.
Watch the video news report by KDKA TV in the video below for further details on the shocking case.
While Fielder reportedly told police that God commanded her to attack her baby because “the Devil” was the child’s true father, whether a mental health evaluation on the mom was conducted has not been made public. But postpartum depression is a common mental ailment suffered by new mothers that can sometimes result in violence if not recognized and properly treated.
What are the symptoms of #postpartumdepression? what red flags to look out for in a new mom?https://t.co/LBSD1KiCBC#PPD #PPDKenya
— PPDKenya (@PPDKenya) September 12, 2017
According to the mental health site PPD Island, symptoms of postpartum depression can include, “Intense anger (sometimes directed at the baby) and persistent irritability. You tend to feel angry, rage, at anything, everything, anyone, everyone, and that precious baby is no exception. It is feeling an uncontrollable resentment, especially at the people that matter.”
The condition of the dad who also suffered a knife attack has not been made public. The baby was transported to University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Children’s Hospital for treatment. Police found a kitchen knife in a dumpster near the building where Tanishia Fielder lived, a knife which matched the description of weapon she allegedly used to stab her baby in the eye.
[Featured Image by Allegheny County Jail]
