Fresno Police worked into the night Tuesday, taking pictures of the stairwell where they found the boy facedown and suffering from multiple stab wounds. Neighbors say they heard the child's mother screaming that she had stabbed her son and then watched in horror as she tossed the boy down the stairs.
Police Chief Jerry Dyer said the woman was still hysterical when the first officers and emergency crews arrived. They didn't release the woman's name, but family members said her name was 30-year-old Vanessa Rincon. "The mother began screaming at the paramedics, asking them not to revive the child. The female had to restrained and subdued at that time," said Dyer.
Police say the child had been stabbed more than a dozen times. Another child, a two month old girl, was found unharmed inside the apartment and turned over to Child Protective Services. Panicked family members arrived at the scene Tuesday afternoon, anxiously waiting for information on the boy's condition. The woman's sister and her husband said they recently broke off contact with the woman, suspecting she was using drugs. "Her behavior, you know, that's the idea of we first thought, that she would be going through something like that, depression. She's a single mom, a mother of two small kids. I can only imagine what she's going through," said the suspect's sister, Christina Esqueda.
Police say they did find a knife they believe was used in the stabbing. Now, they're working to determine why this all happened. Police say at the very least, the child's mother faces attempted murder charges. Those charges could be upgraded if the child doesn't survive.
