
St George, Utah- Thursday morning officers were called to a Motel 6 in St George, Utah for reports of a child that had "sustained potentially life threatening injuries from an assault" believed to have been perpetrated by his own mother.
Officers found the eight-year-old boy suffering from multiple lacerations to the neck and immediately transferred him by ambulance to the St. George Regional Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery. He is expected to survive.
Citing court documents, KUTV reports that 28-year-old Megan Michelle Stewart was taken into custody without incident and told officers that she had previously attempted to suffocate the child. When that failed, she stabbed him in the throat with a pair of scissors that officers recovered from the scene.
The police report continued indicating that Stewart stated that she "had to" kill the boy. When questioned as to why she "had to" Stewart "stated at different times that it was for 'Satan' or 'Mother Mary.'"
Stewart allegedly also told police at one point that she was "high."
The report states that when Stewart was informed that the boy was in surgery at the hospital that she responded indicating that she did not want him to survive.
Stewart is being held without bail in the Purgatory Correctional Facility and made her initial appearance in court on Friday. She was assigned a public defender and her next appearance was scheduled for September 2. According to the court website however, her pretrial conference shows as scheduled for September 15.
According to St George News, Stewart is facing numerous charges including attempted murder and had a warrant for her arrest for a previous DUI in Colorado. Washington County, Utah had also issued a warrant for her arrest for "domestic violence-related charges."
One of the charges against her are for violation of a protective order. In Greely, Colorado a protective order barred Stewart from having contact with her son according to the affidavit. It is unclear how the boy came to be in her custody in Utah.
KSL quotes the affidavit explaining that the warrant in Washington County, Utah stemmed from an incident that involved her brother. The affidavit is said to include a statement from him indicating that Stewart "suffers from mental illness and had a diminished mental capacity." He is alleged to have said that her behavior on the day of the incident was "not normal" and that other family members even took notice that she "was not acting normal and was doing strange things around their home."
At her initial court appearance Stewart indicated that she understood the charges against her and at this time there has been no mention of a mental health evaluation.