*WARNING*: This story contains graphic content not suitable for all readers.
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – “I hit my baby,” the mother told officers at the scene.
She said she “thought it was the only way” to avoid being sold into sex slavery.
Newly-released Allen Superior Court documents reveal what led to an attempted murder charge for 32-year-old Bethany Fleming, who told police she hit her son in the head with a hammer and stabbed herself.
Fleming had called 911 and told dispatchers she thought someone was coming to take them into sex slavery, so she “tried to stop it and I hit him in the head with a hammer,” Fleming said, according to court documents.
“So I tried to kill him, I think I killed him, and I stabbed myself,” documents recorded Fleming saying to dispatchers. Police noted in the documents Fleming’s son could be heard moaning in the background of the 911 call.
Fort Wayne Police arrived at a home in the 1200 block of Ralph Avenue around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday on reports of an unknown problem, and a woman identified as Fleming was standing at the door. Officers noted in court documents she was bleeding heavily from her neck, and she repeated what she said in the 911 call, admitting to hurting herself and her son.
Fleming and her son were both taken to a local hospital. Both were listed in life-threatening condition.
Her 10-year-old son was taken into emergency surgery due to a skull fracture and a brain bleed, police noted in court documents. Doctors told investigators in court documents his condition was “touch and go.”
There has not been an update on the boy’s condition as of yet.
Fleming is preliminarily charged with Level 1 felony attempted murder and is expected to be served a no-contact order to stay away from her son. She is being held in Allen County Jail on $50,000 bond and is due in court Oct. 11.
