Mother fatally stabs 5-year-old daughter

27-year-old Simone Austin asked her elder daughter, 8, to leave the room Saturday morning.

The girl didn't go far though, fearing something might happen to her younger sister, 5-year-old Serenity Arrington.  Previously, her mother had paced around, carrying a knife after the sisters had spilled some eggs.

“And you never know what can happen,” Murphy said, quoting the unidentified child’s words to investigators during a bond hearing.

The elder sister saw her mother pull a serrated knife from under a pillow and begin to attack Serenity.  The girl rushed back into the room and attempted to grab her mother by the hair to stop the attack.

“Keep that child in your thoughts and prayers, because this will obviously be with her for the rest of her life,” said Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan.

The surviving sister ran outside screaming, and was followed shortly thereafter by her mother carrying the now naked body of her sister, still bleeding from some of her injuries.

Serenity was rushed to Stroger Hospital of Cook County and later pronounced deceased from multiple stab wounds.  Prosecutors in the case allegedly stated that one of the wounds to her neck was so severe that it nearly went all the way through to the back of her neck.

While detectives have stated that they had previous calls to the residence where Austin had been a victim of a domestic disturbance, they have not disclosed the circumstances about previous involvement with the family by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

They are looking into whether or not Austin has a history of mental illness.

“Detectives are looking into that, so they’re touching base with that and with DCFS and everything else,” said police News Affairs Officer Jose Jara.

Austin is due back in court next Month.