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Relatives say Texas mother of decapitated baby had schizophrenia and postpartum psychosis – Metro US

Relatives say Texas mother of decapitated baby had schizophrenia and postpartum psychosis

SAN ANTONIO – The father of a newborn baby who authorities say was mutilated, killed and cannibalized by his mother said Tuesday he wants to see her executed.

Scott W. Buchholz told The Associated Press that Otty Sanchez, the mother of 3½-week-old Scotty Wesley Buchholz-Sanchez, seemed fine in the days before the killing, even though they argued. However, he said she told him she had been diagnosed with postpartum depression and was going to be admitted to a hospital for treatment.

Sanchez’s relatives told The San Antonio Express News that she had been diagnosed with postpartum psychosis, which can cause delusional thoughts and hallucinations.

Sanchez, 33, is charged with capital murder in the baby’s death and could face the death penalty. When authorities found the infant’s body Sunday, Sanchez told officers the devil made her do it, police said.

“She killed my son. She should burn in hell,” Buchholz said.

Otty Sanchez’s aunt, Gloria Sanchez, told The Associated Press that her niece had been “in and out” of a psychiatric ward, and that the hospital called several months ago to check up on her.

Sanchez was hospitalized Tuesday with self-inflicted stab wounds and was being held on $1 million bail. Police have said she does not have an attorney. Authorities found the baby with three of his toes chewed off, his face torn away and his head was severed.

Otty Sanchez’s sister and her sister’s two children, ages 5 and 7, were in the house at the time, but none were harmed.

Sanchez and Buchholz lived together during the pregnancy and the first two weeks after their son was born, he said. An infection complicated Sanchez’s recovery from giving birth, and she was required to use a catheter for about a week. That setback darkened her mood, and she was soon diagnosed with postpartum depression.

She moved out of the couple’s shared home July 20. On Saturday, she showed up to see Buchholz at his parents’ house. She became agitated when he told her he needed a copy of the baby’s birth certificate and Social Security card, Buchholz said.

Sanchez ran out of the home with her son in a car seat, threw the car seat into the front passenger seat of her car and sped away without buckling him in, the San Antonio Express-News reported. She left behind a diaper bag, her purse and her medication.

Buchholz’s mother called police, and a sheriff’s deputy investigated the incident as a disturbance, according to court records. The next day, authorities said, she killed her son.

Officers called to Sanchez’s house at about 5 a.m. Sunday found her sitting on the couch screaming “I killed my baby! I killed my baby!” San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said.

McManus described the crime scene as so grisly that police officers barely spoke to each other while looking through the house.