MA Mom Slashed Children's Throats, Set Apt On Fire (critical cond)

[MuffyBee]

What the heck is going on with slashing children's throats and attacking them?!

http://www.boston.com/Boston/metrodesk/2012/03/essex-salem-mother-accused-attacking-her-children-and-setting-apartment-fire-identified-tanicia-goodwin/Q59hhpCheT7it09WZFTtPK/index.html
Essex DA: Salem mother accused of attacking her children and setting apartment on fire is identified as Tanicia Goodwin
By Brian R. Ballou and Kathy McCabe, Globe Staff
March 19, 2012

SALEM -- The woman who allegedly slashed the throats of her two children and set her apartment on fire was identified today as Tanicia Goodwin, officials said early this morning.

Goodwin, 25, is scheduled to be arraigned today in Salem District Court on multiple charges, including arson and two counts of assault with intent to murder, according to Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett’s office.

The two children, who are 3 and 8 years old, are listed in critical condition at Children’s Hospital in Boston, prosecutors said.

The Globe reported that Goodwin slashed the throats of her own children.

Richard Thomas, a Salem Fire Department spokesman, told the Globe that the children were found in adjacent seventh-floor apartments, one of which was filled with heavy smoke. Thomas said no adult was present when the children were found.
More...

[MuffyBee]

http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20220319family_devastated_by_report_mom_slashed_kids_throats
Family devastated by report mom slashed kids’ throats
By Matt Stout
March 19, 2012

A Salem mother is facing gruesome assault accusations after officials say she slashed the throats of her two children and then set her apartment on fire, horrific charges that a family member called “devastating.”

“I can’t speak right, I’m too discombobulated,” Deborah Cox, the aunt of 25-year-old Tanicia Goodwin, said by phone this morning. Goodwin is expected to be arraigned today in Salem District Court on two counts of assault with intent to murder, two counts assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and arson, according to the Essex District Attorney’s Office.
 ::snipping2::
Firefighters responded shortly before 9 p.m., yesterday to a seventh-floor fire at a Pope Street apartment complex, where they found the two children, 3 and 8 years old, with life-threatening injuries, one inside the burning apartment and the second in an adjacent apartment, according to a Salem Fire Department release.

The two children were in critical condition at Children’s Hospital in Boston, authorities said. Cox said she had spoken with hospital staff this morning, but “they don’t know when they’re going to let me see them.
 ::snipping2::

[MuffyBee]

http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/local/police-salem-mom-slashed-two-children-set-home-ablaze-20120319
Police: Salem mom slashed two children, set home ablaze
MARCH 19, 2012

 ::snipping2::
Tanicia Goodwin, 25, will be arraigned Monday in Salem District Court on several charges, including two counts of assault with intent to murder and two counts assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and arson.

Police say the children are 3 and 8 years old and suffered very serious injuries. They were taken from the scene to Boston Children's Hospital, where they remain in critical condition.
 ::snipping2::

[MuffyBee]

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1061118504&srvc=home&position=emailed
Mom accused in kids’ slashing had given son up, regained custody
By Matt Stout And Laurel J. Sweet
March 19, 2012

A struggling Salem mother accused of slashing the throats of her two kids and trying to burn them alive yesterday had voluntarily given up custody of her son to a cousin in 2007, and then got him back three years later after she had her daughter, claiming her life was on track and she wanted them to be a family, the Herald has learned.

Suffolk Probate Court Judge Joan P. Armstrong awarded Tanicia Ann Goodwin, now 25, “sole legal and physical custody” of her son, Jamaal Lajon Goodwin in June 2010 after Goodwin reached a written agreement with her cousin, according to probate court records obtained by the Herald.

“If at any time the mother feels overwhelmed and believes that she cannot parent the minor child on a full-time basis, she shall contact the (cousin) and request that he file for (guardianship),” the pact stipulates.

Sunday night, police and firefighters found Jamaal with a “deep laceration” across his neck and a gaping wound exposing his trachea, and his 3-year-old sister Erica similarly injured and in critical condition in their mother’s burning Pope Street apartment. Authorities said Goodwin blurted to them, “I did what I had to do to protect my children. I’m sorry.”
 ::snipping2::
Police said they found a knife, matches and three containers of lighter fluid. The vents and sprinkler heads sealed off with rags in her apartment. All the smoke detectors had been manipulated. The inside doorknob of the front door had also been removed.

The two children underwent surgery today at Boston Children’s Hospital and remain in critical condition. DCF confirmed the state has taken legal custody of the children today.
Goodwin is being held without bail until a dangerousness hearing next March 26.
(2 pg article)

[KittyMom]

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1061118656&srvc=rss

In addition to requiring that she seek out counseling and find a suitable school for 8-year-old Jamaal’s special needs, the 2010 pact stipulates,

He was a special needs child.  His welfare should have mattered more than mom wanting him back. 

[KittyMom]

http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x223904636/Salem-mom-charged-in-slashings

Nurses had to wipe lighter fluid off the children's bodies before they could be treated, authorities said.

Police said Goodwin apparently walked to the Salem police station on her own after assaulting her children and setting the fire. She entered the police station lobby around 9:30 p.m. and collapsed, breaking a glass display case.

"He didn't speak, but his eyes were open," Cody said of the child. "Rich (Arno) said, 'Are you OK? We're going to get you out of here.'"

In the darkness of the smoke-filled room, firefighters did not realize the boy's throat had been slashed, the chief said.
 

OMG!  Jamaal was awake.  And what happened to the other women ff's saw????   

[MuffyBee]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2012/03/21/salem_fire_chief_describes_finding_wounded_children_at_fire/
Fire chief describes grisly scene
Found children injured in Salem
By Kathy McCabe and Martine Powers
March 21, 2012

(2 Pg. article)

[Sister]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2012/03/21/salem_fire_chief_describes_finding_wounded_children_at_fire/
Fire chief describes grisly scene
Found children injured in Salem
By Kathy McCabe and Martine Powers
March 21, 2012

(2 Pg. article)

Apparently this little man was doing so well in school.
from above article:
 ::snipping2::
Cox said he agreed to return Jamaal to his mother because he felt pressured to do so.

“I believe that the courts are so busy trying to be politically correct that they are not listening, and kids are getting hurt,’’ Cox said.

Deborah Cox, Wayne’s sister, said she had pushed for the boy to be returned to his mother. She said she had no indication that Goodwin could have been dangerous.

“If that had been a fleeting thought in my mind, I never would have sanctioned or supported it,’’ said Deborah Cox, 59.

The cousins have not been allowed to visit either child.