Mother charged with attempted murder of 3-year-old daughter

28-year-old Ann Catherine Akers has been charged with attempted second-degree murder, one count of first-degree assault, and one count of first-degree child abuse after she is believed to have tried to kill her 3-year-old daughter by slashing her throat over the weekend.

Officers were called to the Wheaton-Glenmont residence for the second time in less than 12 hours at approximately 10:50 am Saturday morning.

According to the emergency call, Akers' father had gained access to the residence after calling in a locksmith and found blood on the floor inside. He told the dispatcher that he had immediately exited the residence to call 911.

Officers had been called to the residence at around 2 am when he had first returned home and found that his daughter had changed the locks. At that time, he had determined to sleep in his vehicle in the driveway despite seeing his daughter inside the home and the lights go out as he had attempted to gain entry.

When officers responded this time they found all of the knives out and a pair of salon scissors on the hallway floor with blood on them.

Officers soon located Akers in a bedroom with a cut to her neck. While beginning to treat her, officers removed a blanket that she was holding and located her 3-year-old daughter inside, also with a cut to her neck.

Police immediately began to perform life saving measures on the girl who was soon airlifted to a nearby hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Physicians at the hospital told detectives that if it had not been for the officers' swift live-saving actions, the child would have died.

Akers was transported to a nearby hospital where she was treated for serious injuries.

Akers is in custody at the Montgomery County Detention Center where she will remain at least until the psychological evaluation ordered yesterday by Maryland District Court Judge Sheri Koch can be performed. Prosecutor John McCarthy called the ordered evaluation "totally appropriate."

Once the evaluation is completed, Akers is scheduled for a bond hearing on April 8 with a preliminary hearing scheduled for April 23.