Mom claimed girl attacked her, police say

A Waukegan woman accused of stabbing her 6-year-old daughter to death originally tried to convince police the girl attacked her.

Nelly Vazquez-Salazar told police her daughter menaced her with a knife, threatened to kill her and threw her into a wall.

As Vazquez-Salazar wept continuously through a bond hearing Tuesday in Lake County circuit court, Assistant State's Attorney Stephen Scheller laid out the details of two different versions of events.

Scheller said the 25-year-old woman told detectives her daughter, Evelyn Vazquez, awoke her early Monday morning by sitting on her chest while clutching a large butcher knife.

The girl, who was born Nov. 25, 2001, in Denver and who lived with her grandmother in Mexico until last July, told her mother she was going to kill her, Scheller said.

"The defendant claimed she knocked the victim off her and grabbed for the knife," Scheller said. "And then she claimed that a 6-year-old girl picked her up and threw her into a wall."

Vazquez-Salazar claimed she had stabbed the child only in self-defense, and the girl's grandmother had suggested the child may be possessed by a demon because she had begun sleepwalking in recent weeks.

Scheller said detectives took a break from questioning Vazquez-Salazar and gave her some food.

When they returned to talk with her later in the day, Scheller said, her mood was more contrite.

"She told the detectives, 'I want to be honest with you,'" Scheller said. "She said, 'I killed my daughter and do not deserve to live.'"

Vazquez-Salazar then said she had been awakened by her daughter who was indeed holding a knife, but it was she who grabbed the knife and began stabbing the girl.

Scheller said Vazquez-Salazar said only that she was scared when asked why she had stabbed her daughter, who suffered a total of 11 wounds to her neck, face and arms.

Lake County coroner's officials believe the girl was dead for several hours before Vazquez-Salazar ran to a neighbor's apartment on the 4200 block of Hickory Hills Drive and screamed for help.

Police also found a picture of the Virgin Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus lying next to the girl's body, and the faces of each had been stabbed, Scheller said.

Vazquez-Salazar has no prior history of violence or mental health problems, Scheller said, and has lived in Waukegan for about two years.

Lake County State's Attorney Michael Waller said because of the victim's age and the nature of the crime, Vazquez-Salazar could face the potential of life in prison if convicted.

Associate Judge Daniel Shanes ordered her held on $5 million bond. He also ordered Vazquez-Salazar, a Mexican citizen, to surrender her passport if she is able to raise the $500,000 needed for her release.

Scheller said Vazquez-Salazar has been on a suicide watch since she confessed to the crime and is scheduled to be in court May 1.