© Plymouth County DALatarsha Sanders
Prosecutors said Latarsha Sanders, 43, of Brockton, has admitted stabbing her 8-year-old son, Edson "Marlon" Brito, and Lason Brito, 5, whose bodies were found in beds in separate rooms in the family's third-floor apartment after the crazed mom asked a neighbor to call an ambulance, the Boston Herald reported.
"It came out 'wrong' with the first one and for that reason she had to move on to the second child," Assistant Plymouth District Attorney Jessica Kenny said, adding that Sanders has admitted attacking her older son in the kitchen. Sanders was unable to recall how many times she stabbed the younger boy, Kenny said.
"She said she stabbed him because she had 'failed' in the ritual with Marlon," Kenny said. "She responded to police that she felt bad about what she had done. She told police she mopped up the blood on the floor. She indicated she used a kitchen knife to stab both of them and left it in the sink. She also indicated she cleaned up both of the children and placed them in separate beds."
Exactly when the boys were killed remains unclear. Kenny said they were last seen alive Saturday when Sanders took them to their grandmother's house in Randolph. Sanders told the boys' grandmother that she was taking them to the hospital because she worried they were sick with the flu.
Sanders later returned to her mother's house, but "made no mention of the two children she had stabbed in her home," Kenny said.
Investigators, meanwhile, were unaware of Sanders having any history of mental illness.
"We believe, based upon her comments, that she was involved in some form of rituals that she believed in," Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz said. "We're gathering information as we speak. Suffice it to say it's something she referred to throughout her life to other people in her family - in the last couple years, anyway, and it's something we're looking into."
Sanders said she attacked Edson "because of the voodoo stuff," according to a police report cited by the Boston Herald.
Sanders, who has three other children, including a 16-year-old daughter, pleaded not guilty in Brockton District Court to murdering her sons and was ordered held without bail. Her mother, Earline Sanders, told police that her daughter was "mentally unstable and crazy," according to a police report cited by the Boston Globe.
Latarsha Sanders was also obsessed with a secret society called the Illuminati, as well as numerology and sacrifices. She also refused mental health treatment, her mother said.
Meanwhile, Sanders' relatives who appeared in court Tuesday said they did not wish to speak to reporters, Cruz said. Cruz also declined to discuss the boys' father, except to say that he was "not involved" in their killings, according to the Boston Herald.
Sanders' next court appearance is scheduled for April 9. Her attorney, Joseph Krowski Jr., did not comment on the allegations Tuesday.
Reader Comments
to our Newsletter