SCOTT WESLEY BUCHOLZ-SANCHEZ - 3 weeks old - San Antonio TX

Police are trying to determine what led to a two-week-old baby being stabbed and decapitated early Sunday morning.

Police
were called to a home on the 300 block of Wayside around 5am, and found
the child dead. A woman was taken to the hospital while others at the
home were asked about what had happened.

Police say they found a 3
1/2-week-old infant stabbed and decapitated in a Texas home, and his
mother screaming that she killed her son after the devil told her to do it.

San Antonio police said 33-year-old Otty Sanchez was taken to a local hospital with
self-inflicted stab wounds to her chest and stomach. Police spokesman Joe Rios said Otty will be charged with capital murder.Two other children found unharmed at the home were taken by social service workers. Rios said a kitchen knife and two swords were recovered from the home.

Rios said police were called around 5 a.m. Sunday and found Otty on the
couch "screaming that she killed her baby," whom police identified as Scott Wesley Buchholtz-Sanchez. Rios said she told police that she was hearing voices.

Police called to a
home in San Antonio, Texas early yesterday morning made a horrifying
discovery: The decapitated body of a 3-week-old baby boy. The infant
had also been stabbed.
The mother was found in the home with the boy, named
Scott Wesley Buchholtz-Sanchez, suffering from what has been described
as self-inflicted stab wounds to the chest and stomach.
Otty Sanchez, 33, was taken to San Antonio's University Hospital where
she remains in critical condition, however her life is not thought to
be in danger.
As the Huffington Post
reports, when police entered Ms Sanchez's home she sat on a couch
screaming. The woman allegedly said she killed her son because the
devil had told her to.
Police spokesperson Joe Rios said:

She mentioned that someone or something told her to do it,
she was hearing voices. So that leads us to believe that she was
experiencing some type of mental crisis

Sanchez faces a charge of capital murder.
According to the Independent ,
baby Scott's mutilated body, which was discovered in a bedroom, was
missing some parts and the investigating team is trying to verify the
mother's claim she ate the missing body parts.
While it is believed the dead
boy was Sanchez's only child, two other children, neither of whom were
harmed, were also in the home with the woman and the dead baby when
police arrived. Their current whereabouts are unknown.
Several potential murder weapons have been removed from the Sanchez home, including a machete and sword.

A Texas woman accused of decapitating
her 3 1/2-week-old son has been charged with capital murder and is
being held on $1 million bail.
Otty Sanchez has not appeared in court or been arraigned on the charges.
Police said officers were called to the 33-year-old Sanchez's home in San
Antonio early Sunday and found her sitting on her couch screaming that
she had killed her son at the devil's request. They found the mutilated
body of Scott Wesley Buchholtz-Sanchez in a bedroom. Two other children
were found unharmed in the home.
Investigators removed a sword, machete and knife from the home.
Sanchez was hospitalized with self-inflicted stab wounds to her chest and
stomach. Investigators don't believe the wounds are life-threatening.

Otty Sanchez killed her almost 4-week-old baby by stabbing,
mutilating and beheading him. She told police that the devil made her
kill her baby. She said the baby beheading was the result of hearing voices that told her to do it.
Otty Sanchez is 33-years-old and lives in San Antonio, Texas in a
very modest home with her sister and her sister’s two young children.
Their mother lives in a small structure behind the house. On June 30,
2009, Otty gave birth to a baby boy she named Scott Wesley Buchholtz
Sanchez. In the early morning hours of Sunday, July 26, 2009, the San
Antonio police were called to the Sanchez home and made a grizzly
discovery.
Police describe
the scene as one of the most gruesome they had ever seen. When they
arrived at the home, Otty Sanchez was sitting on the couch, crying and
screaming that she had killed her baby and wanted to die. She had
stabbed herself several times in the abdomen and chest in an apparent
attempt to kill herself. The worst was yet to come. They found her 3
1/2 week old infant baby
son on a bed in a pool of blood, decapitated. Apparently, Otty’s mother
had been awakened during the night, about 4:30 am, by her daughter’s
screams. She saw Sanchez holding the baby and that the baby had been beheaded. She took the baby’s body from Sanchez, put him on the bed and called the police.

A knife was found next to the baby’s body and is thought to
have been the weapon used to kill and mutilate him. There were also
swords in the house,
although police report that they don’t believe they were used in the
crime. The baby’s body was missing body parts. Police report that
Sanchez indicated she had ingested the missing body parts, but that’s
yet to be verified.
The other young children in the home were found unharmed and have been taken into child protective services pending further investigation.
Sanchez has not been known to have a criminal history.
The only police record she has is from May 2008, when her mother called
police to report her missing. At that time, the mother reported she
thought she had gone to Austin, Texas to get drugs. Otherwise, there
has been no known history of criminal activity or mental issues.
Sanchez was taken to the hospital for treatment of her self
inflicted knife wounds. She’s in stable condition and none of the
wounds are life threatening. She was charged by proxy with capital
murder and is held on $1 million bond. If convicted, she could face the
death penalty.

In San Antonio, a mother has committed
such a heinous crime that police officers and media officials are
calling it one of the most brutal killings of a child. According to
reports, mother Otty Sanchez decided to kill her infant baby Scott
Wesley Buchholtz Sanchez by stabbing, mutilating, and decapitating him.
According to MySanantonio,
"Otty Sanchez told police that she was "hearing voices" and that the
devil made her kill Scott Wesley Buchholtz Sanchez, to whom she gave
birth on June 30, San Antonio police spokesman Joe Rios said. Sanchez
used a steak knife to repeatedly stab the nearly 4-week-old baby, then
decapitate and mutilate him, Rios said. A police source said the baby
was skinned and gutted."She then took the same steak knife and
stabbed herself multiple times in the abdomen and chest. When the
police arrived she was screaming to the police how she killed her baby.
The mother of Sanchez was the one who discovered the scene and called
the police. Some of the baby's body parts were missing at the time. The
baby was found in a bloody mess with the apparent murder weapon
bloodied next to him.
Her sister's two children were also in the same house but were not
harmed. Otty is on $1 million bail. She has been charged with capitol
murder and could get the death sentence.

An aunt of San Antonio woman accused of dismembering her 3
1/2-week-old son with swords and eating his body parts says her niece
has been "in and out of a psychiatric ward."Gloria Sanchez said
Monday that her 33-year-old niece, Otty Sanchez, was "not in her right
mind" and that the family is devastated.Otty Sanchez is charged with capital murder in the death of her infant son.Police
say Otty Sanchez told officers called to her house early Sunday that
she killed her son at the Devil's request. Police say she dismembered
the baby using swords and a knife and ate parts of his body, including
his brain, before stabbing herself and slicing her own throat.Otty Sanchez is recovering at a hospital and is being held on $1 million bond.

A woman charged with murdering her 3
1/2-week-old son used a knife and two swords to dismember the child and
ate parts of his body, including his brain, before stabbing herself in
the torso and slicing her own throat, police said Monday.
Otty Sanchez, 33, is charged with capital murder in the death of her infant
son, Scott Wesley Buchholtz-Sanchez. She was recovering from her wounds
at a hospital, and was being held on $1 million bail.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said the early Sunday morning
attack occurred a week after the child's father moved out. Otty
Sanchez's sister and her sister's two children, ages 5 and 7, were in
the house, but none were harmed.
Otty Sanchez's aunt, Gloria Sanchez, said her niece had been "in and out" of
a psychiatric ward, and that the hospital called several months ago
looking to check up on her. She did not elaborate on the nature of her
niece's health problems.
"Otty didn't mean to do that. She was not in her right mind," a sobbing Gloria Sanchez
told The Associated Press on Monday by phone. She said her family was
devastated.
McManus, who appeared uncomfortable as he addressed reporters, said Sanchez apparently ate
the child's brain and some other body parts. She also decapitated the
infant, tore off his face and chewed off three of his toes before
stabbing herself.
"It's too heinous for me to describe it any further," McManus said.
McManus described the crime scene as so grisly that police officers barely
spoke to each other while looking through the house. Parts of the child
were missing, including pieces that Sanchez allegedly ate.
"At this particular scene you could have heard a pin drop," McManus said.
"No one was speaking. It was about as somber as it could have been."
Officers called to Sanchez's house at about 5 a.m. Sunday found her sitting on
the couch screaming "I killed my baby! I killed my baby!" McManus said.
They found the boy's body in a bedroom.
Police said Sanchez said the devil told her to kill her son and that she was hearing voices.
"It was a spontaneous utterance," McManus said.
Police said Sanchez did not have an attorney, and they declined to identify family members who might speak on her behalf.
No one answered the door Monday at Sanchez's one-story home, where the
blinds were shut. A hopscotch pattern and red hearts were drawn on the
walk leading up to the house.
Neighbor Luis Yanez, 23, said his kids went to school with one of the small
children who lived at the house. He said he often saw a woman playing
outside with the children but didn't know whether it was Otty.
"Why would you do that to your baby?" said Yanez, a tire technician. "It brings chills to you. They can't defend themselves."
Authorities said Sanchez and her sister took turns watching the baby Sunday
morning, and that the boy was placed in Sanchez's care at about 1:30
a.m. Her sister discovered what happened about three hours later and
called police.
Investigators are looking
into whether postpartum depression could have played a role in the
attack, McManus said. Authorities said they were looking into Sanchez's
mental health history to see if there was anything "significant" but
did not elaborate.

A woman accused of decapitating her three-week-old baby is still in the hospital and under suicide watch. Now, police are releasing new details about Otty Sanchez, 33, who faces
charges of capital murder for allegedly killing her three-week-old
baby, Scott Wesley Buckholtz Sanchez. The mother, now
being held on $1 million bond, allegedly spent several hours cutting
her son with a kitchen knife and two swords. Police say several of the
child's body parts are missing. They believe Sanchez may have ingested
those body parts. The story begins Sunday morning, when
police say they received a call around 5 a.m. from a family member who
also lived at the home on Wayside Drive. When officers arrived at the
home, they found the infant's mutilated body. Police say
his mother, Sanchez, was sitting on a couch crying. She told police she
killed the boy and wanted to kill herself. Sanchez -- who
reportedly worked at a nursing home before the baby was born -- had
just separated from her son's father the week before. Sanchez was taken to University Hospital with self-inflicted stab
wounds to her chest and stomach. Police say she also tried to cut her
own throat. Her sister and her sister's two children, ages 5 and 7, were in the house and asleep when the crime occured. Sanchez will be charged with capital murder, but the D.A.'s office will
determine if she is psychologically able to stand trial. The San Antonio police department has counseling available to the officers who were on the scene.

The father of a newborn baby who authorities
say was mutilated, killed and cannibalized by his mother said Tuesday
he wants to see her executed.

Scott W. Buchholz told The Associated Press that Otty Sanchez, the mother of 31/2-week-old Scotty
Wesley Sanchez Buchholz, seemed fine in the days before the killing,
even though they argued.

However, he said she told him she had been diagnosed with postpartum depression and was going to be admitted to a hospital for treatment.

Sanchez's relatives told The San Antonio Express News that she had been diagnosed with postpartum
psychosis, which can cause delusional thoughts and hallucinations.

Sanchez, 33, is charged with capital murder in the baby's death and could face
the death penalty. When authorities found the infant's body Sunday,
Sanchez told officers the devil made her do it, police said.

Buchholz told AP, quote: "She killed my son. She should burn in hell."

Otty Sanchez's aunt, Gloria Sanchez, told The Associated Press that her
niece had been "in and out" of a psychiatric ward, and that the
hospital called several months ago to check up on her.

Sanchez was hospitalized Tuesday with self-inflicted stab wounds and was being
held on $1 million bail. Police have said she does not have an
attorney.

Otty Sanchez's sister and her sister's two children, ages 5 and 7, were in the house at the time, but none were harmed.

Sanchez and Buchholz lived together during the pregnancy and the first two
weeks after their son was born, he said. An infection complicated
Sanchez's recovery from giving birth, and she was required to use a
catheter for about a week. That setback darkened her mood, and she was
soon diagnosed with postpartum depression.

She moved out of the couple's shared home July 20. On Saturday, she showed up to see
Buchholz at his parents' house. She became agitated when he told her he
needed a copy of the baby's birth certificate and Social Security card,
Buchholz said.

Sanchez ran out of the home with her son in a
car seat, threw the car seat into the front passenger seat of her car
and sped away without buckling him in, the San Antonio Express-News
reported. She left behind a diaper bag, her purse and her medication.

Scott W. Buchholz, who called his son "baby Scotty," told local media
that 33-year-old Otty Sanchez should "pay the ultimate price" in the
death of Scott Wesley Sanchez Buchholz. (Bexar County Sheriff's Office)

Buchholz's mother called 911, and a sheriff's deputy investigated the
incident as a disturbance, according to court records. The next day,
authorities said, she killed her son.

Officers called to Sanchez's house at about 5 a.m. Sunday found her sitting on
the couch screaming "I killed my baby! I killed my baby!" San Antonio
Police Chief William McManus said.

McManus described the crime scene as so grisly that police officers barely spoke to each other while looking through the house.

A shocked voice and three breathless words: “Oh my God.”
It's the beginning of a four-minute 911 call during which Otty
Sanchez's cousin, Priscilla Garcia, vacillates between crying and
gasping as emergency dispatchers coaxed from her how 4-week-old Scott
W. Buchholz Sanchez was killed and mutilated.
A recording of the 911 call, which was released before noon
Wednesday, confirmed Sanchez claimed she was hearing voices the night
of the slaying. It also revealed Sanchez attempted to reach out for
help, taking the baby to Garcia, who identifies herself as Sanchez's
sister.
“She's gone crazy last night,” Garcia told dispatchers in the early
Sunday morning call. “She was hearing voices and she kept bringing me
the baby and finally she calmed down and I took her back the baby, and
then now I just woke up to hear screaming.”
Garcia and Sanchez's mother, who were both in the home at the time,
have declined to comment. Garcia's brother, Greg, told reporters
Wednesday that the family remained in shock.
“I still can't believe it happened,” he said. “It feels like I'm trapped in a nightmare.”
The family announced Wednesday they plan on moving out of the house.
Sanchez, who's accused of killing and mutilating her nearly
month-old son, “Scotty,” could be heard yelling in the background of
the 911 call. It was made from their mother's home in the 300 block of
Wayside Drive as she apparently stabbed herself in the chest and
abdomen.
“I loved him,” Sanchez yelled to Priscilla Garcia. “I didn't mean to do it. He told me to.”
Bexar County authorities said Sanchez is being held in the jail's
mental health section, but declined to release any information about
her wellbeing.
Until Wednesday's release of the 911 recording, there was no
indication — other than a police report — of what Sanchez's behavior
was like immediately prior to the killing. The police report did
indicate she confessed to the killing, saying the Devil made her do it.
The 911 call unfolds with rapid, sometimes pleading, statements from the sister.
“My sister, she's hurt her child,” Priscilla Garcia told dispatchers. “She stabbed him. There's blood all over the bed.”
“Priscilla, where's your sister?” the police dispatcher asked.
Sanchez could be heard in the background yelling to her cousin. Dogs also are yelping.
It's unclear what Sanchez is saying.
“No, Otty, nobody is there,” Garcia told Sanchez. “It's OK, baby, just stay right there.”
After Sanchez tells her cousin she has stabbed herself, a brief but
revealing exchange occurred between the two women. Some of what Sanchez
said is inaudible, but her cousin can be heard clearly.
“Aye, sister, I told you to come to me,” Garcia said.
In the background, Sanchez is heard yelling back: “I tried, but you were telling me that you died.”
“I'm not dead, Otty,” Garcia said. “I'm standing right here talking to you.”
A dispatcher then asked where Sanchez stabbed herself.
“In the heart and in the stomach,” Garcia said.
Garcia is not only heard trying to calm her cousin, but her mother,
as well. Two other young children also were in the house at the time,
but it was unclear in the recording if they witnessed anything.
Among the last words Sanchez can be heard saying in the 911 recording are, “I loved him. I loved him.”
Sanchez had been living with Scotty in her mother's home for about a
week after leaving her boyfriend, Scott W. Buchholz, on July 20. Greg
and Priscilla Garcia — Sanchez's first cousins who were raised by
Sanchez's mother — also lived in the home.
Greg Garcia said Sanchez began telling them she was hearing voices
six hours before the slaying. He said during that time he left the
house to go to work.
“I told her, ‘Otty, you sure you're gonna be okay?'” he said. “She said, ‘I'm gonna be fine.'”
Sanchez had an appointment with her therapist scheduled for Monday,
so the family thought they could wait until then to get her medical
attention, Greg Garcia said.
“There were no signs that something bad was going to happen,” he
said. “She had mentioned hearing voices in the past, so it wasn't a
real big issue.”
Garcia said Sanchez was diagnosed with schizophrenia last year,
after authorities found her wandering around a CVS Pharmacy in Austin.
She spent three weeks in a state psychiatric hospital in Central
Texas, where doctors diagnosed her with the mental illness and
prescribed her appropriate medication.
By the time Sanchez became pregnant last fall, her mental health had
improved. Upon learning that she had become pregnant, Sanchez was
excited.
“She and Scott had been trying for five years,” said family friend
Mark Garay. “She was so happy that she was going to have a baby.”

- A Texas mother accused of decapitating her 3-week-old son screams "I
didn't mean to do it. He told me to!" while her sister pleads for an
ambulance to bring help in a desperate four-minute 911 call released
Wednesday.

Otty Sanchez, who police say told them the devil made her kill and
mutilate her only child, cries "I love him" and says she's stabbed
herself in the heart and stomach while her sister tries calming down
the 33-year-old mother.

At one point during the frantic call, Priscilla Garcia tries reassuring
her sister that she is alive. "Otty, this time I told you to come to
me," Garcia says.

"I tried, but you told me that you died," Sanchez responds.

"I'm not dead, Otty," Garcia says. "I'm standing right here talking to you."

Sanchez, 33, is charged with capital murder in the slaying of Scott
Wesley Buchholz-Sanchez, who authorities found decapitated and grossly
mutilated in a bedroom of her sister's house early Sunday. Police say
Sanchez chewed off three of her infant's toes and ate parts of the
brain. She used a knife and two swords in the attack, according to
police.

Garcia tells the dispatcher that her sister has stabbed her child and that blood is all over the bed.

"She's gone crazy last night. She was hearing voices," Garcia says.
"She kept bringing me the baby. And finally she calmed down and I took
her back the baby. And now I just woke up to hear screaming."

She continues, "The baby is dead. The baby's dead. Please, somebody come."

During the call, the dispatcher instructs Garcia not to touch the baby
or anything in the area. The call ends with the dispatcher saying help
is on the way.

Sanchez, who had been hospitalized after the killing, was being held on
$1 million bond at the Bexar County jail. It was not immediately clear
Wednesday whether she had an attorney.

Scott W. Buchholz, the infant's father, said Sanchez suffered from
postpartum depression and that she told him she was schizophrenic a
week before the slaying. Buchholz, who said he also is schizophrenic,
said he wants her to receive the death penalty.

A family member has said Sanchez had been undergoing psychiatric
treatment and that a hospital called looking for her several months
ago. Gloria Sanchez, the mother's aunt, said her niece had been "in and
out of a psychiatric ward."

In May 2008, Otty Sanchez's mother, Manuela Sanchez, called police
after her daughter didn't return from a trip to Austin, saying she was
concerned about her daughter's safety. Manuela Sanchez told police she
suspected her daughter was into drugs and specifically told police she
wasn't suffering from any mental issues.

Buchholz last saw Sanchez and his son the day before the killing. He
said Sanchez had moved in with her parents a week earlier, leaving him
July 20 after being briefly hospitalized for depression but released
that same day.

Sanchez brought "Baby Scotty" over to see his father the day before the
slaying, and Buchholz said she became irate when he asked for copies of
the birth certificate and other documents, then left in a huff with the
baby.

Priscilla Garcia called 911 before 5 a.m. the next morning. Police say
the killing took place in a bedroom and that no one else was injured.

As news of the 33-year-old Texas woman who murdered her infant son
and then ate bits of his brain and a few toes zips around the Internet,
our morbid curiosity grows. The story of Otty Sanchez taps deep veins,
unfolding like a Greek tragedy: A new mother breaks with her lover
three weeks after giving birth to their child. Insane with grief, she
hears voices telling her to kill her baby -- the fruit of their union.
After murdering the infant, she begins to consume him, returning him to
the body from whence he so recently came. In a moment of clarity she
sees what she has done. Horrified, she tries to take her own life,
stabbing herself in the heart and slitting her own throat.Our
literature profs would have us list the sweeping, irresistible themes:
love, abandonment, insanity, infanticide, cannibalism, religion, an
epic battle between the forces of good and evil ("He made me do it,"
Sanchez allegedly wailed in the aftermath, referring to the devil),
divine retribution.As fiction it is high art.
The Sanchez incident nestles neatly into a literary canon that
packages parental ambivalence into clear plots and simple motives:
Abraham, who is told by God to sacrifice his son Isaac as a burnt
offering; Medea, who kills her two sons to punish their father for
leaving her; Hansel and Gretel, abandoned by selfish parents because it
was so costly to feed them (leaving them prey to a mean old woman who
planned to eat more than their brains and toes).Alas, the
details of the Otty Sanchez incident are now trickling out, ruining our
tidy narrative with a clutter of problematic facts. Already our story
is getting unruly.
Both Sanchez (mom) and Scott Buchholz (dad) have schizophrenia.
Sanchez was off her drugs. She was in counseling for postpartum
depression -- but there were signs that it was worsening. Sanchez and
Buchholz separated when the baby was 3 weeks old. Sanchez came by
Buchholz’s house a few days later and "stormed out" when Buchholz
demanded a copy of the birth certificate. Buchholz called the police
when Sanchez put the baby’s car seat in the front, neglected to strap
him in, and sped off. The police followed up in a lackadaisical manner.
Sanchez, possibly experiencing the onset of a psychotic break, sought
help in a local hospital emergency room but was released in less than
24 hours and sent home to care for her newborn. Sanchez heard voices.
The voices told her to kill the baby. She gave the baby to her sister,
who shares the house with her; she did not want the child near her.
Then, when Sanchez finally seemed calm, the sister returned the baby to
her. Sanchez killed the baby, tried to kill herself, but did not
succeed.Questions muddle up our clean story line.
What was going on between Buchholz and Sanchez that they separated three weeks after their baby was born?
With all new parents this is a stressful time. We are all reeling during
these early days, struggling to define what our roles will be, how to
distribute baby care fairly (or, in any case, develop a job-share we
can live with), suffer from sleep deprivation, are anxious about our
new identity, remain frazzled by a crying infant and, for moms, are
still recovering physically from giving birth. Buchholz and Sanchez,
with a history of mental illness, are hit with a double whammy here;
coping was clearly especially difficult.
How is it that Buchholz has known Sanchez for six years, lived with her, and had a baby with her, as the AP reports, but professes to be unaware until last week that she had been diagnosed as schizophrenic?
Since Buchholz himself is schizophrenic, currently on a six-drug daily
regimen, this does not seem like something Sanchez would be too
embarrassed to share with him. Maybe she did mention it, but he forgot?
Or perhaps he was in denial, dismissing her behavior as "baby blues" or
simple "bitchiness"?
Why was Sanchez, who was in counseling for postpartum depression and who had a history of mental illness, off her meds?
Chances are a doctor told her that drugs and breast-feeding don’t mix -- even
though postpartum is a particularly dangerous time for women to do
without. Many doctors don’t know much about this. Historically,
physician drug labels have simply sorted the level of danger into vague
categories without providing specific information about the quantity of
the drug transferred to the infant via breast milk, nor of the impact.
In 2008, the FDA began changing its labeling criteria to provide more
detailed information -- but doctors are still behind the curve here.
When in doubt, many are reluctant to prescribe drugs, especially ones
considered optional, like antidepressants, to pregnant or nursing
women. The bible of women’s healthcare, "Our Bodies, Ourselves,"
advises women to "work with a provider who is knowledgeable about
medications and breast-feeding" but such folks can be hard to come by.
Weigh the pros and cons, the authors suggest, adding that "[w]hile the
second generation of antidepressants do pass into breast milk, the
short-term negative effects on babies, if any, appear to be transient."
Still, in what has become an enduring refrain when it comes to drugs,
pregnancy and breast-feeding, the authors note: "Additional research
... is needed."
Finally, one has to wonder how it is
that a new mother diagnosed as schizophrenic and suffering from severe
postpartum depression showed up in a hospital emergency room in some
kind of mental health crisis and was blithely sent home?
The details of just what transpired at the hospital haven’t been released
yet, but if Sanchez’s postpartum psychosis went untreated, that would
not be unusual. According to the American Psychological Association,
mental health issues are regularly missed in hospital emergency rooms.
Indeed, a 2005 article
in the organization’s Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
found that emergency room doctors routinely overlooked problems like
schizophrenia, depression and anxiety, finding a psychiatric diagnosis
rate of 5.27 percent in emergency rooms, compared to a national
prevalence rate of 20 to 28 percent. For African-Americans, the rate of
under-diagnosis is even higher. (The study did not look at rates for
Hispanics.)These particulars, after a while, make it hard to
shoehorn the Sanchez story into our fictional literary canon. After
all, Medea and Abraham and the old witch in Hansel and Gretel are
buoyed along on a current of "inevitability" that floats our fictional
narratives of infanticide. This Sanchez case suggests -- oh, brother --
that there are some steps we as a society should be taking to support
new mothers.

"Relatives of Scott W. Buchholz Sanchez — “Baby Scotty” — will hold a private funeral service this week for the 4-week-old who was slain last week.
“The family thanks the community for being so sympathetic about this tragedy,” said Bette Berns, a local a crime victims advocate who spoke on behalf of Scotty's father, Scott W. Buchholz. “They want to have a personal and private funeral services to meet their needs.”
The Buchholz family is encouraging anyone who is interested in remembering Scotty to observe a moment of silence in his honor on Sunday.
“Each person, in their own way, can do this in their own space,” Berns said.
Scotty's mother, Otty Sanchez, reportedly confessed to decapitating the child at her mother's home in the 300 block of Wayside Drive on July 26. She had been living at the home for about one week after leaving Buchholz.
Relatives have expressed outrage that she was released from a hospital after she reported experiencing hallucinations and hearing voices about one week before the killing. She was transported to Metropolitan Methodist Hospital on July 20 after she told her doctors at the CentroMed clinic on the Northeast Side about the voices and hallucinations.
The Buchholz family plans to hold a private service after the body is cremated this week. The process was complicated because the Buchholz family needed Sanchez, 33, to sign paperwork authorizing the cremation. Sanchez's family could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
She recently signed the documents, said Ed Camara, one of Sanchez's court-appointed attorneys. Sanchez remains jailed on a capital murder charge in the medical section of Bexar County Jail. Bond was set at $1 million.
Magistrate Judge Andrew Carruthers ordered a competency evaluation for Sanchez. A psychiatrist is expected to meet with her in the next week.
“She seems to be adjusting to life in jail,” Camara said. “She's still under psychiatric watch, but she seems to be doing OK.”"

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/52548917.html

:.0 I apologize, I have been taking a much needed break from all this chaos as my heart had been so down after hearing of child after child.... :( Guess, this is one I need to keep a special eye and ear out for...right in my "own backyard" so to speak..

Susmihara wrote::.0 I apologize, I have been taking a much needed break from all this chaos as my heart had been so down after hearing of child after child.... :( Guess, this is one I need to keep a special eye and ear out for...right in my "own backyard" so to speak..

---I can empathize with you Su! The more I post, the more I shake my head and ask, Why?

OMG, I just hear the 911 call the sister made :.0 .

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/52548917.html

I just don't understand WHY, WHY, WHY the sister gave her back the baby that night and didn't TAKE HER TO THE HOSPITAL!!!!!

Relatives of Scott W. Buchholz Sanchez —
“Baby Scotty” — will hold a private funeral service this week for the
4-week-old who was slain last week.“The family thanks the
community for being so sympathetic about this tragedy,” said Bette
Berns, a local a crime victims advocate who spoke on behalf of Scotty's
father, Scott W. Buchholz. “They want to have a personal and private
funeral services to meet their needs.”The Buchholz family is
encouraging anyone who is interested in remembering Scotty to observe a
moment of silence in his honor on Sunday.“Each person, in their own way, can do this in their own space,” Berns said.Scotty's
mother, Otty Sanchez, reportedly confessed to decapitating the child at
her mother's home in the 300 block of Wayside Drive on July 26. She had
been living at the home for about one week after leaving Buchholz.Relatives
have expressed outrage that she was released from a hospital after she
reported experiencing hallucinations and hearing voices about one week
before the killing. She was transported to Metropolitan Methodist
Hospital on July 20 after she told her doctors at the CentroMed clinic
on the Northeast Side about the voices and hallucinations.The
Buchholz family plans to hold a private service after the body is
cremated this week. The process was complicated because the Buchholz
family needed Sanchez, 33, to sign paperwork authorizing the cremation.
Sanchez's family could not be reached for comment Wednesday.She
recently signed the documents, said Ed Camara, one of Sanchez's
court-appointed attorneys. Sanchez remains jailed on a capital murder
charge in the medical section of Bexar County Jail. Bond was set at $1
million.Magistrate Judge Andrew Carruthers ordered a competency
evaluation for Sanchez. A psychiatrist is expected to meet with her in
the next week.“She seems to be adjusting to life in jail,” Camara said. “She's still under psychiatric watch, but she seems to be doing OK.”

A Los Angeles woman who decapitated
her 4-year-old with a kitchen knife showed signs of mental illness nine
months before the attack, yet Los Angeles County child welfare
officials decided she wasn't a serious threat to the boy.
Lars Sanchez was found dead on July 18 in a bedroom he shared with his mother.
The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that nine months earlier, Yolanda
Tijerina was seen screaming and shouting "I think you killed my son"
outside the boy's Highland Park preschool.
The principal called a child abuse hot line.
Child welfare and mental health officials investigated but the boy wasn't
removed from his home. Authorities concluded that any risk could be
addressed through informal monitoring by relatives and neighbors.

The attorney for a Texas mother who allegedly told authorities the
devil made her kill and mutilate her 3-week-old son said Thursday that
a jail psychiatrist believes his client is mentally competent to stand
trial.A judge will consider that opinion at a November
competency hearing for Otty Sanchez, 33, and make a final decision,
said Ed Camara, Sanchez's attorney.The San Antonio woman is
accused of decapitating and dismembering Scott Wesley Buccholz-Sanchez
and eating parts if his body in a bedroom at her sister's house in
July. Police say swords were used in the attack.Camara said a
jailhouse evaluation indicates Sanchez is functional and mentally aware
because of medication she is taking. But he said the report also
suggests Sanchez, who is charged with capital murder, was not mentally
stable at the time of the killing.Camara said she likely will plead not guilty for reasons of mental illness."It was pretty clear ... that she was mentally ill at the time," Camara said of the report's findings.Camara
said the court would not allow him to provide a copy of the evaluation.
The office of Bexar County Magistrate Judge Andrew Carruthers, who
ordered the evaluation, referred questions to attorneys.An
autopsy report obtained Thursday shows Sanchez's son was nearly
completely decapitated. The baby also was missing his ears, portions of
his toes and fingers, other body parts and some internal organs.Medical examiners requested additional forensic consultation for "possible bite marks," according to the autopsy.Camara
said Sanchez had a history of mental illness and had been taking
citalopram, an antidepressent, but had to stop after becoming pregnant.
The infant's father has said Sanchez suffered postpartum depression and
that she told him she was schizophrenic a week before the slaying.Camara
said he's learned Sanchez spent six weeks at a state mental hospital in
Austin last summer. She went there after police removed her from a drug
store where she had been wandering for eight hours without purchasing
anything, Camara said.Sanchez remains in Bexar County Jail on $1
million bond. Camara said she is aware of the charges she is facing but
does not discuss the crime with him."I don't think she really understands what's happening yet," Camara said. "I don't think she's come to grips with it."Authorities
responded to a a bloody scene July 26 after Sanchez's sister found her
in the middle of the night and called police. On a tape of the 911
call, Sanchez can be heard screaming, "I didn't mean to do it. He told
me to!"Other Texas mothers accused of killing their children
have been found competent to stand trial. Andrea Yates was found
innocent by reason of insanity in 2006 for drowning her five children
in suburban Houston. Dena Schlosser was also found not guilty by reason
of insanity for cutting off her 10-month-old daughter's arms with a
kitchen knife.

Otty Sanchez got two weeks in a state mental hospital after she was
found wandering around a drug store last year, shopping for an
imaginary trip to China.She got a few hours in an emergency room, then a ride home, in July as a new mom hearing dark voices.Three-week-old
Scott Wesley Buchholz-Sanchez was dead six days later, decapitated and
missing fingers and toes, while police say his mother wailed about how
the devil made her do it. A judge ruled Thursday that a jury will
decide whether Sanchez is mentally competent to stand trial after
Sanchez's attorney said her mental condition is worsening."In
addition to her psychotic condition, her schizophrenic condition and
her postpartum psychotic condition, she may also be affected by
post-traumatic stress disorder," Ed Camara, Sanchez's attorney, told
the court.Sanchez, 33, is charged with capital murder in the
death of her son. His father said Sanchez should "burn in hell" and
deserves the death penalty for dismembering their only child. He
watched quietly as Sanchez shuffled into court with her head down,
wearing glasses and her black hair cropped short.Two psychiatric
evaluations concluded Sanchez was competent to stand trial, but Camara
said he received a medical report Tuesday that was more bleak. A date
was not immediately set for a jury to settle the issue.The
autopsy report spells out the attack in nauseating detail: mutilated
genitals, the head nearly decapitated and the skin flayed. Authorities
said Sanchez ate parts of her son, including the brain, and medical
examiners found apparent bite marks across the body.Sanchez's
sister made the horrifying discovery before sunrise, and Otty can be
heard screaming, "I didn't mean to do it! He told me to!" while her
sister pleads for an ambulance in a desperate 911 call. Sanchez later
wailed to her sister that she thought everyone was dead.Bexar
County prosecutor Yvonne Gonzalez has said her office would seek the
death penalty on the legal presumption that Sanchez was sane. Although
prosecutors were still gathering medical records, she said there were
signs Sanchez had been "functioning quite well," including holding down
a job for several years."We're not really sure she had a long history of mental illness," Gonzalez said earlier in the week.Scott
Buccholz, the baby's father and a self-described schizophrenic,
insisted that Sanchez had appeared fine and gave no hint of a severe
mental illness.An estimated one in 1,000 women are afflicted
with postpartum psychosis. Unlike postpartum depression, which occurs
in as many as one in five new mothers, women with postpartum psychosis
can suffer dangerous delusions and desires to hurt their child.The
same illness tormented Andrea Yates, the suburban Houston mother who
drowned her five children in a bathtub in 2001, and Dena Schlosser,
another Texas mother who cut off her baby's arms in 2004, according to
the women's attorneys.Doctors say the risk of developing
postpartum psychosis is 50 percent or higher for women with
schizophrenia who are not taking medication. Camara says Sanchez fits
the bill: although Sanchez was prescribed the antidepressant citalopram
after giving birth, she only took it once — the day before her son was
killed. Such drugs take weeks to begin working.It was one of a handful of times that Sanchez appeared to try reining in her mental illness.She
wound up shuffling around an Austin drug store for eight hours last
summer, Camara said, only after going to the city with a friend who
said an acupuncturist there could help her mental problems.A
week before the killing, Camara said an ambulance rushed Sanchez to a
hospital from a counseling center where she had made an appointment
because she was feeling depressed and having hallucinations.Advocates
say resources for indigent women with mental disorders are sparse in
Texas, which is ranked 49th in per capita mental health expenditures,
according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.At the
Center for Health Care Services in San Antonio, where Camara said
Sanchez was referred for outpatient treatment, about 2,000 more people
are served each year than the state pays for, CHCS President Leon Evans
said.State mental hospitals are no less overwhelmed."My
job here is to get people out, bottom line," said Dr. David Gonzalez, a
psychiatrist at the San Antonio State Hospital. "They have hired me to
treat people so I can get them out of the hospital. I'm here to keep
people out."Recently, Camara said, music coming from a jailhouse
speaker triggered Sanchez into a flashback of the night her son died.
The hallucinations returned, Camara said, and Sanchez called over a
guard for help.A jailer handed Sanchez some more medication. She calmed down."If only that had been available to her that evening," Camara said.

A San Antonio woman who told authorities the devil made her mutilate
and dismember her newborn was found not guilty by reason of insanity
Thursday, in a deal that sends her to a state mental institution rather
than to face a trial and possible prison sentence.Defense
attorneys entered the plea on behalf of Otty Sanchez, 33, and it was
accepted shortly thereafter as part of an agreement with prosecutors.Scott
Wesley Buchholz-Sanchez was three weeks old when authorities who
received a frantic 911 call from the boy's aunt arrived to find his
mutilated body, and Sanchez wailing the devil made her do it. On the
call, Sanchez can be heard screaming, "I didn't mean to do it! He told
me to!" while her sister pleads for an ambulance."This was
probably one of the most horrendous cases that we have seen as far as
the murder of a child," said County District Attorney Susan Reed.Sanchez
was charged with capital murder and was found competent to stand trial.
But Reed said after three examinations by separate doctors determined
she was legally insane when she killed her son, the court had no choice
but to accept the plea."She will be committed until the court
decides she is not a danger to herself or anyone else," Reed said.Reed
said she was horrified by what Sanchez did, but also disturbed by the
fact that she had sought treatment before killing her son and did not
receive the care she needed."A lot of people are OK when they are
taking their medications but once they stop taking them, they are a
danger again," Reed said.Sanchez periodically sought treatment
for mental illness before her son was born and even spent a few hours in
an emergency room after the birth because she was hearing voices less
than a week before the attack.Defense attorney Ed Camara said she
had been prescribed the antidepressant citalopram after giving birth
but had only taken it the day before killing her son. The drugs do not
take effect for a few weeks.An estimated 1,000 women are
afflicted with postpartum psychosis. Women with the diagnosis can suffer
dangerous delusions and desires to hurt their children, unlike
postpartum depression, which occurs in as many as one in five new
mothers.Andrea Yates, the suburban Houston mother who drowned her
five children in a bathtub in 2001, and Dena Schlosser, who cut off her
baby's arms in 2004 both suffered from the psychosis, their attorneys
said.The justice system has come a long way since Yates was
convicted and faced a possible death sentence in 2002, said her
attorney, Greg Parnham.Yates was sentenced to life in prison
before her case was overturned on appeal, after which she was found not
guilty by reason of insanity in 2006 and sent to a state hospital."I
think that we have to understand as a society that this gender-based
mental disability is real," Parnham said. "New mothers sometimes
experience severe depression — some of those mothers become psychotic."