A New Orleans man was arrested Tuesday morning after he called 911 to report that he had killed his 18-month-old daughter because “God made him do it.”
Mark Hambrick, 45, was taken into custody outside his home in the Bywater neighborhood. New Orleans police Superintendent Michael Harrison told reporters during a morning news conference at the scene that Hambrick was waiting for officers when they responded to his call.
Hambrick told dispatchers in the call, which came in around 7 a.m., that he had stabbed his daughter and then, "to put the child out of its misery," suffocated her, Harrison said during the news conference, recorded and shared by NOLA.com. He gave them a description of himself and the toddler and told them where he and the child would be when officers arrived.
Officers who responded to the scene handcuffed Hambrick and went into the house, where they found the child lying dead on a bed. She had multiple stab wounds.
Harrison said an autopsy will determine if the baby was also suffocated. The knife used in the slaying was found near the girl’s body.
Dispatchers who questioned Hambrick asked why he killed the baby, Harrison said.
“He gave us some details, but simply put, he told us over the phone that God made him do it,” the police superintendent said.
Investigators are looking at the man’s background to determine if mental illness or alcohol or drug abuse may have played a part in the slaying. When asked about it on the phone, Hambrick denied having a history of mental illness.
Hambrick’s wife, the mother of the child, was at work when the slaying took place, Harrison said. The woman, who the superintendent said “has now lost a baby and now has lost a husband,” has been in touch with detectives.
“This is certainly a gruesome scene. It’s extremely tragic,” Harrison said.
The toddler’s death is the second time a father has been accused of killing his small child in Louisiana since the weekend.
Fabian Miguel Smith, 33, of Zachary, was charged Saturday with first-degree murder and second-degree cruelty to a juvenile in the death of his 11-month-old son, Jericho Smith, according to the Baton Rouge Advocate. Zachary police Chief David McDavid said during a Sunday news conference that the baby suffered stab wounds to his forehead and had signs of blunt force trauma to the back of his head.
East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner Dr. Beau Clark confirmed during the infant's autopsy that he also suffered multiple gunshot wounds, the Advocate reported.
Smith is accused of locking the baby’s older siblings, ages 9 and 5, out of the house as he killed the boy. When the children went back in the house, they found their brother unresponsive.
The children ran for help at a neighbor’s home. When the neighbor went to check on Jericho, he found the infant lying on the floor in a pool of blood, McDavid said.
Smith reportedly told the neighbor, “Call 911, I done messed up.”
Jericho’s mother, Iesha Tolbert, told reporters on Monday that her son was a happy baby who seldom cried.
His favorite word was "Dada," Tolbert said.
Tolbert, who was working when her son died, said she is trying to wrap her mind around what happened. When she received word that Jericho was dead, she said she assumed he had died in an accident.
She never imagined that Smith would have killed their son.
"The hardest part is knowing it was his own dad that took his life," Tolbert told reporters, according to the Advocate. "Not only did I lose my baby, I also lost my husband at the same time."
Court records showed that Smith does not have a record of violent crime, the Advocate reported. Tolbert’s mother, Theresa Tolbert, told reporters that he was never violent.
"He was a loving parent, a great provider," Theresa Tolbert said of her son-in-law.
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