By Associated Press
Buffalo, NY – A woman repeatedly slammed her 7-month-old daughter onto a concrete sidewalk in front of her apartment Friday as witnesses jumped from cars to try to stop her, police said. The baby later died.
Kirsten Vanderlinde, 36, was charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the death of Melissa Vanderlinde-Berst, who suffered massive head trauma.
Vanderlinde, described by police as an outpatient of a mental clinic, allegedly killed the baby minutes after a Buffalo police officer had checked on her well-being at the request of another officer, who had driven her home after finding her walking with the baby shortly after 6 a.m.
Less than two days earlier, Vanderlinde had asked a neighbor to take custody of Melissa, saying she was afraid she was not a good mother. The late-night request Wednesday prompted a call from the neighbor to a crisis intervention center.
Millicent Turrentine said she called Crisis Services worried that Vanderlinde would leave her baby somewhere after she told Vanderlinde about 11:30 p.m. that she could not take her child.
"I felt uneasy ... I said `I think the mom is stressed out. I don't think she can hack it,"' the neighbor said.
"I didn't think she would hurt her. That was the furthest thing from my mind," Turrentine said. "She's never acted anything but loving to the baby."
A spokeswoman for Crisis Services, citing a policy of confidentiality, would not say whether the agency followed up on Turrentine's call, or even whether the call was received. Kevin Helfer, commissioner of Erie County Social Services, said his agency had not been contacted.
"It broke my heart today," Turrentine said in her living room overlooking the sidewalk where the attack occurred. "I hate that I just didn't take the baby from her. I just feel so bad."
About 7 a.m. Friday, the 200-pound Vanderlinde, wearing a nightgown and slippers and holding the baby by her ankles, chanted: "Where's my TV? Where's my phone? Where's my peace? Where's my nice home? Where's my justice?" witnesses said.
"She was viciously swinging the baby and smashing the baby into the ground," Capt. Mark Morgan said. "I don't even like saying it ... because it's so hard to think of."
Motorists on their way to work stopped their cars in the road and drove onto the sidewalk to help. A man wrestled the baby from the mother's arms as police arrived and tackled her to the ground.
An officer who later questioned her said she was alternately distraught and calm.
"It's hard to get a handle what's inside her head," Sgt. Phil Torre said. Torre would not reveal what Vanderlinde said about what led to the attack.
Vanderlinde was being held at the Erie County Holding Center Friday while the District Attorney's office was determining whether to seek a psychiatric evaluation, Morgan said. Investigators removed prescription medication from the woman's home but had not determined the nature of her mental illness by late Friday, he said.
Morgan said the two police officers who encountered Vanderlinde earlier in the morning concluded the baby was not in danger.
"The baby was fine. The house was fine. The mother said 'I'm fine,"' he said. "Obviously, it is unusual for someone to be walking around with a baby at six o'clock but unfortunately it's not against the law."
The first officer, from neighboring Kenmore, had been flagged down by a passer-by and alerted to the mother and baby. After the officer drove the two to their Buffalo apartment, city police were called to follow-up on them.
The baby's father lives in the apartment but was not home at the time of the attack, police said.
Turrentine described Melissa as a sunny and happy child with a single blonde curl on her forehead and eyes like crystal blue marbles. Vanderlinde seemed enamored with her, she said.
"She would look at her and say, 'She's just so beautiful, isn't she?"' she said.
Turrentine said that when she told Vanderlinde that she couldn't just take in Melissa permanently, she offered to call Vanderlinde's parents. Vanderlinde, she said, expressed worry that she wasn't a good mother because the baby had been crying more than usual.
Turrentine, a mother of two, said she felt the baby's gums and found the baby's first two teeth. "I said 'It's not you, honey. She has two teeth coming in."'
"I kept asking her 'Is everything OK?' She kept saying, 'No, I'm fine, I'm fine."' Turrentine said.
The neighbor said she spoke with Vanderlinde as if she was one of her young children because Vanderlinde appeared "mentally challenged."
Passers-by placed stuffed animals and flowers on the landing of the apartment building through the day Friday. "The angels had come back for their own baby angel," read a card.