A 4-year-old Louisiana girl died and a 2-year-old boy was left critically injured Sunday after they were stabbed by a distraught woman at their home in the Florida neighborhood, New Orleans police said.
Detectives booked 31-year-old Janee Pedescleaux with second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder and second-degree cruelty to a juvenile in connection with the double stabbing, which was reported at 11:17 a.m. at a home in the 3100 block of Law Street.
Police did not immediately confirm reports from neighbors that Pedescleaux was the children’s mother. Instead, the NOPD said, “The preliminary investigation indicates that this incident is guardian in nature.”
Surveillance video obtained by Fox 8 showed a man believed to be the children’s father arriving to the scene in a white pickup truck and running toward the house. Minutes later, the same man is seen rushing back to the truck with the injured toddlers, with the older sibling stumbling and falling to the sidewalk, before getting up to run again.
In a more disturbing video — since deleted from Pedescleaux’s Instagram page but saved by Illicit Deeds — the woman faces the camera in a blood-stained tank top, sobbing, “I’m dying. My children is dead. I’m dying! I’m done with life!”
Neighbors who did not wish to be named said it was this social media post that alerted the father that his children were in grave danger or injured. When he arrived to the slightly elevated house, the man broke and climbed through a front window to rescue the children, taking them for hospital treatment himself.
Police said the girl died at the hospital, and that her younger brother was listed in critical condition.
A witness said Pedescleaux was arrested at the scene and taken away strapped to an ambulance gurney. The NOPD said she was booked into the Orleans Justice Center later Sunday.
NOPD child abuse detective Mario Bravo is heading the investigation. Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact the Special Victims Section at (504) 658-5267 or Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111.
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