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Las Vegas Police Department
Danielle Slaughter, 27, is accused of stabbing her 6-year-old daughter to death.
LAS VEGAS -- A woman accused of stabbing her 6-year-old daughter to death with scissors told police she had been taking a weight-loss product, had trouble sleeping for several days and felt an evil presence before the attack.
"Did I kill my daughter? Is she dead?" the 27-year-old woman asked police after she was found Sunday naked, bloody and running barefoot through Las Vegas, according to court documents released Tuesday.
Danielle Yvonne Slaughter was hospitalized after she told police that the blood on her hands was from the "lamb of God." Police said they later found Kyla Franks dead at their home.
Slaughter was held at the Clark County jail pending an initial court appearance Wednesday on a murder charge. It wasn't immediately clear if she had a lawyer.
"There was no rhyme or reason to it," homicide Lt. Ray Steiber said of the death of the girl. "I don't think there's anything that anyone could have anticipated."
In a police interview recorded early Monday, Slaughter told investigators she had had trouble sleeping since she started taking the weight-loss product Hydroxycut four days earlier, and that she had been feeling "an evil presence" for several days. She said she slept just one hour Saturday night.
"Danielle stated that she never felt this way before," the police report said, adding that she said she wanted to remove the evil from the house. She kept her daughter home from day care that day.
Slaughter told police she and her daughter were sitting on the bed when the girl spoke in "evil words," laughed "in an evil voice" and clawed and kicked at her. The mother said she picked up scissors and struck the child several times.
Steiber said police believe the mother was sleep-deprived and may have been affected by the weight-loss product she had been taking.
Hydroxycut was recalled from the market in 2009 by parent company Iovate Health Services Inc. of Canada and Iovate Health Sciences USA Inc. of Blasdell, N.Y., after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning about liver injuries.
The product was later reformulated and returned to the market, Iovate spokeswoman Siobhan DeLancey said Tuesday. She noted in an email that complaints that led to the recall were about excess selenium causing liver damage.
Steiber has said that five people lived at the home, including Slaughter and her daughter, who was a kindergartner at Bell Elementary School. Only those two were home during the killing.
Slaughter’s boyfriend called police Sunday night and said he found the child’s body in the master bedroom.
Police said the mother did not appear to have a prior criminal record.
The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this story.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News
Leave a Comment:
Idiot.
Don't take chemicals if they're impairing your judgment. I don't care how skinny the commercial tells you that you get using their poisonous "legal speed." If you're only sleeping 1hr a night, then maybe... just maybe... you should STOP taking the drugs BEFORE the voices start.
This is obviously sleep-deprivation psychosis. Meth addicts have similar delusions.
If the chemicals are impairing your judgement, how are you supposed to make the rational decision to stop taking them?
It's not clear if the product was what led to her psychotic episode. A look into her family history and any OTHER substances she may have been taking is in order.
"She kept her daughter home from day care that day."
The girl was in Kindergarten and spent the weekends in day care? I didn't see any mention of the mom missing work or acting strangely at work while "Hydroxycut was making her crazy" so why send the girl to day care? Living in Vegas it must be awfully tempting seeing everyone else gong out partying while you have to spend some time with a kid; even if it does increase your welfare check you eventually look for a way out... and why not set up a scenario for big lawsuit against a big company with an already badly perceived product while you are at it?... the perfect way to replace your lost welfare income.
I hope they check all the computers she had access to for internet searches about Hydroxycut settlements and killing.
This stupid psychotic b*tch is trying to blame her actions on both the pills she was taking and on that old standby for the fruitcakes, 'the devil'.
The lengths that people will go to to try and shirk blame for their actions is amazing, and people like this 'woman' (using the term VERY loosely) don't belong in society at all.
I agree Stonedog. There is no defense for doing something like that. The fact remains, if a person kills someone, especially their child, they are capable of anything and should no longer be seen as a salvagable human being and should be destroyed as they can no longer be trusted to not do harm to other people. I'm sick of hearing the excuses too.
I hate to break this to you Stonedog and F Walsh, but you and every other human being on the planet are chemical animals. Your minds function on a very specific set of chemical reactions. Start messing with those chemicals in any way and you begin to disrupt perception. While I don't know anything about this woman from a personal standpoint and can't make any accurate statements regarding her personality traits or prior actions (though the article mentions that she has no prior criminal record), I can state unequivocally that it is very possible that a chemical imbalance could have induced this behavior or otherwise exacerbated an existing condition, such as schizophrenia. That's simply the nature of the beast.
Agreed.Please ,please remove her ovaries.
Lets see if she still feels an evil presence in jail...I'd bet she's going to feel more than she wants to.
Hopefully she will plead insanity and get the help she deserves. I really hope you don't find rape funny, no matter who it happens to.
In her case, it would be a laugh riot.
That attitude makes me sick to my stomach.
The only evil presence was the one inside herself.
disabled vet 1: Bingo... winner winner chicken dinner.
The Lamb of God is dead. Praise God and pass the mutton.
oh, this makes it alright, she should be given another chance "Police said the mother did not appear to have a prior criminal record"
At least she's got the last name to match her deed..
Just to be sure stay away from all drugs.
The evil presence was herself staring back at her in a mirror. Her last name is spooky.
Slaughter, really, isn't that some $hit. In Wyoming this crime would be a 2yr probation crime. Don't get caught with a joint here 5 to 7 minimum I hope they bury her but you know that won't happen the bleading hearts will be all over this. Call this number if you murdered your kid on this drug there could be cash in it for you.
Mind altering drugs. Get them from the streets, off the web or from your doctor.
Good to see you AZT, I knew a drug story would bring you around.
What an appropriate name.
Bullsh*t. I'm betting she was not doing "diet pills" and I'm betting that the toxic report will say the same.
Evil presence, ya, right. So she killed her daughter instead of protecting her kids from that evil?
What a load of BS. She obviously hasn't taken so much Hydroxycut that the cow lost any appreciable weight. I can't believe they even indicted Hydroxycut in this story based on nothing more than her word. She's a druggie who sliced and diced her poor daughter while strung out on something - not Hydroxycut. I can't imagine what it was like for that child to spend her last moments on earth getting PAINFULLY stabbed to death by her own mother. Throw the switch.
How do YOU know what drugs she was on? Were you there? Yes,she is a druggy who killed her daughter,I understand the anger there.But if there is a danger to taking hydroxycut,I think that would be a good thing for people to know. I don't understand why you are so upset about the fact that they said she was taking hydroxycut. Do you work for them or something? Are you having a bit of a hydroxy-rage yourself here?
I don't use any stimulants or weight loss drugs. Fortunately I don't need to. You are completely missing the point. For the story to indict a weight loss drug that no one else has ever claimed to cause them to go berserk and slay their children based on her word alone, after she scizzored her child to death, is just irresponsible. I run a business, and if some piece of crap went home and killed their child and said it was because they were somehow stressed out from visiting my office, I would hope that a paper would wait before splashing my name all over the place for alledgedly inciting a child killer to murder, when most likely, they did it of their sick volition.
I agree 1000% darlin !!!!! It is BS !
Damn, christians are scary people.
Who said she was a christian?
Members of most organized religions are. I am not aware of any exceptions to this.
Her saying it's blood from the lamb of god kinda makes her religion obvious....
It's either drug-induced or she's schizophrenic (hearing voices?). Either way, she needs to be put away for a long, long time.
She'll feel an evil presence when a lethal injection ends her life.
looooooooooooser
Sure, lady, whatever. Get the rope.
60% of all true believers have some kind of mental disorder, this is a fact not specualtion.
She should have done as the Arapahos are doing and just kill a bald eagle.
"Danielle Yvonne Slaughter" ARE YOU F&CKIN SERIOUS!! That has to be a typo. Should be Slater maybe?
pics of her running naked and bloody around las vegas or it didn't happen
You're sick.
Here's a prime example of someone who needs their breathing privileges taken away.........
...like right now.
hhlorrusnry
And the evil presence was THE MOTHER.