DARRINGTON — After fatally stabbing her 5-year-old daughter last month, a Darrington woman asked her roommate to buy her a shovel so she could “plant flowers,” according to charges filed in Snohomish County Superior Court.
On Friday, prosecutors charged Alyssa Sanchez, 30, with first-degree murder.
On the morning of Feb. 14, Sanchez dropped off a family friend at his work on Chief Brown Lane, the charges say. She had been staying with him after getting kicked out of her stepfather’s house.
On her way back home, she reportedly stopped at the IGA in Darrington with her daughter.
“She had voices in her head telling her to get a knife,” deputy prosecutor Jarett Goodkin wrote in the charges.
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Sanchez stole an 8-inch bread knife and drove back to her home in the 600 block of Commercial Avenue, according to the charging papers. In the driveway, she sat in the car with the knife in her right hand, according to court documents.
Still hearing voices telling her to kill her daughter, the defendant turned around and stabbed the 5-year-old, prosecutors allege.
Sanchez crawled in the back seat and stabbed her daughter again until she stopped breathing, the charges say. She allegedly covered the girl in blankets before throwing the knife and her clothes in the neighbor’s dumpster.
The defendant picked up her friend after his shift, the charges say. He saw blankets stacked in the backseat, but Sanchez wouldn’t let him touch anything. Sanchez reportedly told him she dropped off her daughter at the airport with her grandmother to go to Sacramento.
The defendant planned to buy a gun to take her own life, but could not afford one, according to the charges. A few days later, Sanchez returned to IGA to steal another knife, with the intention of killing herself and her roommate.
At some point after the slaying, Sanchez woke her friend up in the middle of the night and told him she did “something bad” to her daughter. He brushed off her concerns, thinking the child was with her grandmother.
Between Feb. 16 and 18, Sanchez’s roommate bought her a new shovel at her request and left it on the side of the house, according to court papers. Sanchez used it to bury her daughter’s body outside their residence.
On Feb. 26, nearly two weeks after the stabbing, Sanchez called 911 to report herself, the charging papers say.
When officers showed up to the southwest Darrington home, they noticed Sanchez had a cut on her finger. She reportedly said she was contemplating suicide earlier that day.
Sanchez led officers to the north side of their apartment to show them where she buried her daughter, according to the charges. About 20 feet away, a shovel rested against the east side of the building. Investigators recovered the child’s body and took Sanchez into custody.
The defendant does not have any felony convictions, according to court documents. She is represented by defense attorney Christine Olson.
Sanchez remained behind bars at Snohomish County Jail this week with bail set at $5 million. Her arraignment is set for April 10.
Help is available
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Maya Tizon: 425-339-3434; maya.tizon@heraldnet.com Twitter: @mayatizon.
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