Bloody 7-year-old runs to neighbor for help, Utah officials say. Mom charged
A mother accused of trying to kill her 7-year-old son who was found covered in blood has been charged, Utah prosecutors say.
The mother was charged with first-degree attempted aggravated murder and four additional felonies, the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office said in a May 8 news release.
“The allegations in this case are disturbing, but the way the child’s neighbors stepped in to help demonstrates the strength of our community to come together in a crisis,” District Attorney Sim Gill said in the release.
Boy’s story
A neighbor called West Valley City police on May 3 to report a child with “blood all over his face and shirt,” prosecutors said.
The boy told police he “escaped (his) mom,” officials said in court documents.
He went on to tell police his mother “broke two statues, dragged him by the hand, and tried to kick him out of the house,” officials said.
As his mother tried to drag him out of the home, the boy held onto a bar at the top of the stairs, he told police.
He told police “it felt like they were playing a ‘simple game of tug of war,’” officials said.
Upon realizing the boy would not loosen his grip on the bar, his mother “picked him up, threw him in the tub, and tried to drown him,” officials said.
“She then picked him up and tried to choke him,” the boy told police.
His mother is then accused of hitting him in the head with a statue.
For “like a second,” the boy told police, his mother’s attack stopped as he lay on the floor.
The boy took that brief moment to escape to his grandmother’s room, then “hid under the bed,” officials said.
The child then bolted for the front door of the home; however, his mother was guarding the exit, prosecutors said.
Instead, he escaped from the back of the house and ran to a neighbor’s, officials said.
Neighbors’ story
A neighbor told police the boy said his mother had “tried to kill him by hitting him on the head with a statue and drowning him,” officials said.
Then, the neighbor saw the mother leave her home and heard her say “call the cops, I tried killing my son,” officials said.
The mother entered the neighbor’s home, confronted a child inside and assaulted a neighbor, officials said.
Shortly after, another neighbor saw the 7-year-old child “running down the street asking for help,” officials said.
The neighbor saw the mother also running down the street looking for her son, according to prosecutors. She jumped a fence and continued running.
When the woman was near the neighbor’s garage, she assaulted him, prosecutors said.
The neighbor tackled her and “held her to the ground until police arrived,” prosecutors said.
While searching the home, police found “a bathtub full of water,” where the mother is accused of trying to drown her son, prosecutors said.
A broken statue, which weighed between 3 and 5 pounds, was in the water, prosecutors said.
The mother and child were taken to separate hospitals, prosecutors said.
While at the hospital, the woman is accused of hitting a nurse and pulling her hair.
A police officer tried to restrain her, and she reached for their gun, saying “You’re going to have to kill me,” prosecutors said.
The boy’s medical assessment showed he had “a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI), multiple scalp lacerations that required closure with 15 staples, and a forehead laceration that required four sutures,” according to prosecutors.
In addition to attempted aggravated murder, the mother was also charged with “one count of first-degree felony disarming a police officer, three counts of second-degree felony aggravated child abuse, and one count of class A misdemeanor criminal trespass,” prosecutors said.
The mother is being held without bail, according to court documents.
West Valley City is about a 10-mile drive southwest from Salt Lake City.
This story was originally published May 9, 2025 at 12:43 PM with the headline "Bloody 7-year-old runs to neighbor for help, Utah officials say. Mom charged."
