Background: A section of Kausrud Street in Menomonie, Wisconsin (Google Maps). Inset: Emily Spalding (Dunn County Sheriff's Office).
A mother in Wisconsin is accused of stabbing her 7-year-old son while he was playing video games and then dragging him back into their home when he tried to escape.
Emily Spalding, 37, has been charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide and child abuse related to intentionally causing great bodily harm, according to court records reviewed by Law&Crime. She is detained in the Dunn County Jail.
On July 20 at about 8 p.m., the Menomonie Police Department was asked by a neighbor to do a welfare check on Spalding's home on Kausrud Street in Menomonie, Wisconsin. The city is located in the west of the state, some 70 miles east of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
One witness told an officer that "Emily also made comments about children not needing to clean their rooms in heaven and had been yelling and swearing and putting a curse on people," according to a criminal complaint obtained by regional NBC affiliate WEAU. The witness added that the previous night, Spalding was outside her home in the rain talking to people that were not there, police said.
When the officer spoke with Spalding, she was reportedly calm, denied making those comments and said it was the neighbor who had a problem, not her. The defendant's child did not make a statement or ask for help, and the officer left.
About two hours later, officers again responded to this area of the city due to a report of a child running in the street yelling, "no." The boy was apparently covered in blood and claimed "his mom was chasing him with a knife and hit him in the head."
When officers caught up with the child at a Jimmy John's restaurant, the boy is said to have had blood on his face, shirt, and legs, as well as a small laceration on the top of his head. The boy was treated, and investigators tried to learn what happened.
The boy said he was Spalding's son and that he had been playing video games in her bedroom when she walked in with her mouth open and tried to stab him with a knife. He got away, but she caught up, allegedly pulling him back into their house and hitting him in the head with a hammer.
The boy was able to escape this time.
When confronted by law enforcement for answers, Spalding was standing at her front door and said someone else had taken over her body, the criminal complaint states. She was detained and also treated at an area hospital.
When an officer spoke with the boy at the medical center where he was, he reportedly said "if he had not run away from his mom that he would be dead." Spalding's sister then took custody of the child.
It is not yet clear when the defendant is due to appear in court.