Darrington woman heard voices before killing 5-year-old child, police say

DARRINGTON, Wash. - A Darrington woman was arrested this week in connection with the death of her child and burying her body in front of a neighbor's house. 

On Monday night, deputies responded to reports of a death investigation at a home off Commercial Avenue. 

According to a police report, a 30-year-old woman called 911 to report she had killed her 5-year-old child with a knife on Feb. 14 in the back seat of her car, and threw the knife in a dumpster.

Family members got on the phone with 911 and reported they hadn't seen the child since Feb. 14.  

Days after the stabbing, the woman asked someone to buy her a shovel, investigators said. The woman also said the body of the child had been in the car for several days, covered in blankets. 

The woman buried the body of the child because she was afraid it would start to smell, according to the report. 

Snohomish County deputies spoke with the woman, and she told them she had been hearing voices. The voices told her, "she is a demon, the devil, the messiah and sometimes her ancestors speak to her."

The police report said the voices were telling her that she needed to kill herself so the child could go to heaven. 

On Tuesday morning, the woman was arrested and booked into the Snohomish County Jail on suspicion of first-degree murder. She is scheduled for her first court appearance at 1 p.m. Wednesday. 

The sheriff's office said they recovered the child's body on Wednesday morning, and the Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office will determine the cause and manner of death.