EVERETT — An Everett area woman allegedly strangled her 7-year-old stepdaughter, beat her with a baseball bat and held a knife up to her throat, a Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy wrote in a report.
“I will murder you,” the woman said, according to the girl’s account.
The woman reportedly blamed the family’s problems on the girl, for talking about previous abuse allegations.
She was booked Monday into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of second-degree assault of a child. Everett District Court Judge Tam Bui found probable cause for the suspect’s arrest and set bail at $50,000. The woman, 28, is not allowed to contact either the girl or a foster child staying with them.
The girl reported the alleged assault to an elementary teacher, who contacted authorities.
The abuse took place Sept. 22, according to the girl. But her father denied that anything happened when a deputy arrived at a daycare. He said they spent the night relaxing and watching movies, according to court papers.
When questioned further by the deputy, the man said his daughter has made up stories before.
He said that the woman didn’t hit their children anymore because of past reports to Child Protective Services. The man acknowledged some issues at home, supposedly because of their 6-year-old foster son, who was having behaving issues.
The deputy had both children placed into protective custody. The foster child reportedly said he didn’t want to talk about the night the alleged abuse took place because he didn’t want to go back into foster care.
“We don’t want to get into trouble,” he told the deputy, according to court papers.
The girl was hesitant to talk. When interviewed, she asked why there were cameras in the room. She said she didn’t want her parents to see the footage. Her statements would cause her father to cry, and make her mother get mad and hit her, she said, according to documents.
The girl eventually opened up to the interviewer. She reportedly said she was hit in her bedroom, her stepmother’s bedroom and the living room.
She drew a picture depicting what happened. In it, her mother held a knife. The girl wrote the word “help.”
Then she drew another picture, of her stepmother hitting her in the leg with a metal baseball bat.
According to the report, the girl said her father stepped between them and took the bat away. The stepmother reportedly erupted at the girl.
“You know what, I’m gonna kill you because that man right there, he won’t always be there for you, and when he sleeps he sleeps pretty dang hard,” the woman reportedly said.
The girl talked about other instances of abuse. She said her stepmother would hit her with whatever was at hand, according to court papers: the bat, a hanger, a flip-flop or a belt.
They all hurt, the girl said.
After obtaining a search warrant, police found a knife and a bat at the house that matched the girl’s descriptions. The arrest report notes that the woman previously has been investigated for third-degree assault of a child, related to an incident in January.
Zachariah Bryan: 425-339-3431; zbryan@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @zachariahtb.
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