Horror in Plano, TX

Horror in Plano, TX

This is an excellent article written by the Dallas Morning News - what a shock!. This newspaper has been an ardent advocate of the murder of preborn children for as long as I can remember. But even the sin hardened Dallas Morning News was stunned by this heinous display of child-killing. I wonder why?

It is because now they (the authors) can see child-killing in all of its horrible color and ferocity. They can see the baby, in their mind's eye, having her arms cut off by a mother who was supposed to lover her. They can see the baby, unable to defend herself, wondering why mom would do such a horrible thing. They can sense the helplessness of being unable to do anything about it. Yes, the authors of this article can see the utter depravity, selfishness, and despair that would cause a mother to do such a thing. If they could but pull the veil a little further back, they would see the glee of the devil and his minions and the weeping of our Father in heaven.

They would see that there is an all out battle going on between those who fear God and His Son Jesus Christ, and those who don't. Between those who bring the life giving message of the Gospel of Christ by laying their own lives down, and those who take life (anybody's life) if it hinders their own pursuit of “happiness.” This battle in manifesting itself in so many ways in America that one would have to be blind not to see it! And therein lies the rub. We don't see it.

Why? Because we are blind by choice. That's right! We could see it if we chose to, but that would require us to act. So we just sweep it under the rug, turn off the TV whenever the news comes on, and pray that our kids will not be exposed to the horror that took place in Plano . But God keeps pulling the covers back. He did it at Columbine High School and high schools across our nation. The blood of our children is filling their corridors. He did it during 9-11 when blood filled the streets of New York City and Washington , D.C. It happened before our very eyes, yet we still did not see.

We did not see that these “living parables,” (judgments from God actually) were meant to turn us to repentance. The men of God, in their various capacities, did not see this to be the case. So we have continued on in our sin, not aware that our loving God, Jesus is calling us to return to Him. Because He loves us, He has allowed this bloodshed to fill our streets in an even more bizarre way, that we might repent, turn to Him, and stop the child-sacrifice (abortion) that is plaguing our nation.

When words fail God speaks in “living parables.” Does it have to get any more graphic than this? If we sow bloodshed in the womb, we will reap it in the streets. God painted a dreadful picture in Plano , Texas for all of us to see. A mother severing the arms of her child and allowing her to bleed to death. If we, who call ourselves Christians, will not endeavor to end child-killing in America , God most certainly will. When He does it will be uglier than anything we have seen yet!

In Christian love,
Flip

Plano mother charged with murder

Schlosser battled postpartum depression after the baby's birth

11:48 AM CST on Tuesday, November 23, 2004

By JENNIFER EMILY and TERRI LANGFORD / The Dallas Morning News

PLANO – Covered in her daughter's blood, Dena Schlosser sat in the living room of her apartment listening to the hymn "He Touched Me. "

Dena Audre Schlosser

"Shackled by a heavy burden/'Neath a load of guilt and shame/Then the hand of Jesus touched me/And now I am no longer the same," the beginning of the hymn goes.

Ms. Schlosser is heard humming along on a 911 recording as she answers a telephone call from an emergency dispatcher about noon Monday.

"I cut her arms off," the 35-year-old said in a quiet voice about her 10-month-old daughter, who later died. She tells him the baby is unconscious and isn't breathing.

Paramedics found the baby in a crib in a bedroom. Her arms were severed. The child died at Medical Center of Plano.

Ms. Schlosser, who was diagnosed with postpartum depression during a Child Protective Services neglect investigation early this year, was charged with capital murder Monday afternoon.

When paramedics arrived, a man's voice can be heard on the 911 tape calmly saying: "Give me the knife now. Give me the knife."

She offered no explanation for her actions to the dispatcher, and police would not comment about why she may have killed the youngest of her three daughters. They also would not discuss whether investigators recovered a knife or other weapon.

The child's name has not been released, and the woman's husband could not be reached for comment.

"Both arms were completely severed," Plano police spokesman Officer Carl Duke said. "She was not talking when she left here. She was very quiet, subdued."

Plano police said the child's injuries were horrifying.

"I've never had to face anything like this before," Detective Bryan Wood said. "And, frankly, I'd never want to.

"My sympathies go out to the family and to the first responders on the scene."

Ms. Schlosser's husband and two other daughters, ages 6 and 9, lived in the downstairs apartment but were not home at the time. The older daughters, who have been placed in temporary foster homes, were in school.

Ms. Schlosser's husband had called an employee at a child-care facility and asked her to check on his wife as he drove home from work in Arlington, according to the 911 recording. A co-worker of that woman then called 911.

It was not the first time authorities were called to the apartment on Coit Road .

A CPS investigator was sent to Ms. Schlosser's home Jan. 15 after she was seen running down the street, followed by her then-5-year-old daughter, who was on a bicycle. When police and CPS arrived at the scene, the child told them her mother had left her 6-day-old sister alone in the family's apartment. None of the children was injured.

The mother, who was despondent, appeared to be suffering from postpartum depression, said Marissa Gonzales, CPS spokeswoman.

Plano police crime scene investigator Bill Lackey removed evidence from the apartment complex on Monday.

"Mom started walking and running from the apartment," Ms. Gonzales said. "Someone called law enforcement, and she was obviously having some sort of psychotic episode."

Ms. Schlosser was taken to a Collin County hospital, where she was treated for a few days, Ms. Gonzales said. The children were released to their father, who told authorities she had been acting strangely since the birth of the third child Jan. 9.

Once Ms. Schlosser was released from the hospital, she agreed to seek counseling and see a psychiatrist, Ms. Gonzales said.

She kept all of her appointments and at one time had received a prescription for a psychotropic drug. But sometime between January and August, she was taken off the medication, Ms. Gonzales said.

"We had received assurances that Mom was stable from the people who were dealing with her, the professionals," Geoffrey Wool, CPS spokesman in Austin , said of the decision by her doctors to take her off of the medication.

CPS caseworkers continued to visit the family through the spring and summer, the last time on July 29.

"She was doing well," Ms. Gonzales said.

The case was closed Aug. 9 and classified with a finding of "Reason To Believe-Neglectful Supervision."

"At the time we had closed the case, we had been assured she was stabilized and she posed no risk to herself or her children, to the extent that you can predict these things," Mr. Wool said.

The baby's death shocked residents of the apartment complex, which is home to numerous families.

Michael Lujan, 25, who lives in the same building, said he often saw Ms. Schlosser and her children having picnics under the trees near their building. He said she stayed home with the children while her husband worked. Her older daughter often rode her bike.

"I'm in shock," said Mr. Lujan, who has two children. "She seemed sweet to me ... just like any other mother. She was loving and tended to their needs."

Others struggled to understand how such a tragedy could happen.

"What would drive a person to do that?" said resident Jacob Hopland, 22. "I know kids are hard to handle, but you have to step up and be a good parent."

Officer Duke said Ms. Schlosser was not talking with officers at the police station about what happened. No previous criminal record could be found.

Mood problems are common up to two week after giving birth, said J. Douglas Crowder, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas .

"That's the so-called baby blues," Dr. Crowder said. "When it goes longer than that, you need to be concerned."

Postpartum symptoms are the same as depression, Dr. Crowder said. Mood swings, loss of appetite, insomnia, fatigue and thoughts of suicide are typical. At the worst psychotic level, mothers may hallucinate or conclude that their children are hopelessly flawed and better off dead.

But he said violence toward children is uncommon in postpartum cases.

Dr. Crowder said a law that went into effect last year requires doctors to warn parents of the effects of postpartum depression.

The law was precipitated by the case of Andrea Yates of Houston , who was sentenced to life in prison in 2002 for drowning three of her five children, he said. It is meant to prompt families to seek medical help for women who display symptoms.

911 TRANSCRIPT

The operator asks what happened to the baby.

Ms. Schlosser: "I cut her arms off."

Operator: "You cut her arms off?"

Ms. Schlosser: "Mm-hmm."

Operator: "Is she [the baby] conscious?

Ms. Schlosser: "No."

Operator: "Is she breathing?"

Ms. Schlosser: "No."

Operator: "Can you get as close to the baby as possible?"

Ms. Schlosser: "She's in the other room."

Operator: "Do you want to help the baby, ma'am?"

Ms. Schlosser: "Yeah ..."

Operator: "OK, then I need you to bring the baby by the phone so we can help you, ma'am."

Ms. Schlosser: "OK."

The call soon disconnects.

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To the Editor:

I was saddened to hear of the horrifying murder of a 10-month old baby girl by her mother in Plano, TX. This news has shocked the entire Dallas Metroplex community. The idea that a mom would even think about cutting off the arms of her little daughter seems to sicken area residents, including myself. My heart goes out to the living children, the father of this precious little girl and the mother. My prayer is that the woman would repent before the Lord for her sin of murder.

As I read the reports and watched the clips on the news, I could not help but think that we in the city of Dallas do the same thing to our little boys and girls about 10,000 times a year in our 6 abortion clinics. Moms enter into these killing-centers and have their children torn apart limb by limb. I have seen it. I have seen moms and dads go into these “clinics” with Bibles in hand, telling me how much they love Jesus, yet will have their babies dismembered much like the little infant girl in Plano. Not only are these children's arms ripped off, but so are their legs! Their heads are also severed! Where is the outcry from the community about these massacres? Are we not shocked by the fact that these little boys and girls are also being brutally murdered by their parent's almost everyday of the week in this city?

Of course we are not. Why? Because according to man's law, a woman has the right to choose to kill her baby, as long as the infant is still in the womb. However, to Almighty God, the Giver of life, there is not one ounce of difference between the little girl who was horribly murdered in Plano and the little babies that were horribly butchered this morning in our area abortion clinics. The city of Dallas may ignore these little unborn children, but Jesus Christ does not and He demands an account for their bloodshed.

Sincerely,

Rev. John D. Reyes

Director, Operation Rescue-Dallas; Operation Save America-Dallas