Chicago mom snaps, stabs 5-year-old daughter, and lays on the ground next to her

Chicago, Illinois – A father went off for coffee with a friend, and came back home to the most tragic scene of his life.

According to the report, the oldest daughter of 27-year-old Simone Austin , an eight-year-old, told police that she and her sister had spilled some eggs and that their mother had threatened them with a knife. She said that her mother took her sister into a bedroom and closed the door.

The girl looked through a keyhole and saw her mother pull out a serrated knife and stab the screaming five-year-old in the neck. She apparently tried to pull her mother off her little sister by the woman’s hair.

Authorities say Austin stabbed her daughter, Serenity Arrington, inside their home, undressed her, then carried her body outside where she laid down next to her until police arrived.

Austin’s grandfather, Sylvester Washington, returned home from getting coffee with a friend and saw his daughter undressing the girl and called 911.

Chicago police responded Saturday, just before 9:20 a.m. to the 3200-block of West Fulton Boulevard for a person stabbed.

When officers arrived, they found a 5-year-old girl with stab wounds being treated by Chicago fire officials.

Simone Austin is facing first-degree murder charges. She is being held without bond.

During Monday’s bond hearing, the Cook County assistant state’s attorney, James Murphy, recounted the gruesome crime.

The woman allegedly told emergency personnel that she “did it” and that she was sorry.

Chicago fire officials transported the girl to Stroger Hospital with “multiple stab wounds,” where she died a short time later.

“It’s horrible, man. My own flesh-daughter did that. Man. Y’all don’t want to have this feeling. No, I can’t explain it,” the little girl’s grandfather Sylvester Washington said.

The girl received multiple stab wounds to the neck, according to the medical examiner.

“Keep that child in your thoughts and prayers,” Police Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said during a press conference Monday morning, pointing to the lifelong trauma she’ll now be forced to face.

Police Superintendent David Brown said on Monday that his officers were also traumatized by the scene they witnessed. 

“The death of a child by accident or disease is a tragedy,” he said. “The murder of a child is horrific. The murder of a child at the hands of their parent is too much.”

Read Kissy’s thoughts on Page 3