24 NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 2009
CRIME
Mother accused of murder and cannibalizing newborn
BY PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO — The father of a newborn baby who authorities say was mutilated, killed and cannibalized by his mother said Tuesday he wants to see her executed.
Scott W. Buchholz told The Associated Press that Otty Sanchez, the mother of $3\frac{1}{2}$-week-old Scotty Wesley Buchholz-Sanchez, seemed fine in the days before the killing, even though they argued. However, he said she told him she had been diagnosed with postpartum depression and was going to be admitted to a hospital for treatment.
Sanchez's relatives told The San Antonio Express News that she had been diagnosed with postpartum psychosis, which can cause delusional thoughts and hallucinations.
Sanchez, 33, is charged with capital murder in the baby's death and could face the death penalty.
When authorities found the infant's body Sunday, Sanchez told officers the devil made her do it, police said.
"She killed my son. She should burn in hell." Buchholz said.
Otty Sanchez's aunt, Gloria Sanchez, told The Associated Press that her niece had been "in and out" of a psychiatric ward, and that the hospital called several months ago to check up on her.
Sanchez was hospitalized Tuesday with self-inflicted stab wounds and was being held on $1 million bail. Police have said she does not have an attorney. Authorities found the baby with three of his toes chewed off, his face torn away and his head was severed.
Sanchez moved out of the couple's shared home July 20. On Saturday,
she showed up to see Buchholz at his parents' house. She became agitated when he told her he needed a copy of the baby's birth certificate and Social Security card, Buchholz said.
Sanchez ran out of the home with her son in a car seat, threw the car seat into the front passenger seat of her car and sped away without buckling him in, the San Antonio Express-News reported. She left behind a diaper bag, her purse and her medication.
Buchholz's mother called 911, and a sheriff's deputy investigated the incident as a disturbance, according to court records. The next day, authorities said, she killed her son.
Officers called to Sanchez's house at about 5 a.m. Sunday found her sitting on the couch screaming "I killed my baby! I killed my baby!" San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said.
POLITICS
Schwarzenegger cuts from programs to save
BY JUDY LIN Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made additional cuts to child welfare programs, medical care for the poor and AIDS prevention efforts Tuesday as he signed an $85 billion compromise spending plan that he called "the good, the bad and the ugly."
Schwarzenegger used his line-item veto authority to save an additional $656 million that will let the state restore a reserve fund he says is needed for tough times.
The vetoes include $80 million from child welfare programs; $61 million in county funding to administer Medi-Cal, California's version of Medicaid; $52 million from AIDS prevention and treatment; $50 million to Healthy Families, the
low-cost health insurance program for poor children; and $6.2 million more from state parks.
Schwarzenegger called the budget package aimed at balancing the state's budget through June 30, 2010, the toughest since he took office in 2003.
Schwarzenegger's finance director, Michael Genest, warned Tuesday that even with the revised budget deal, California likely will need to borrow $8 billion to $10 billion to cover its cash needs this year, and the state is likely to face another $7 billion to $8 billion deficit in the 2010-11 fiscal year.
Matt Fabian, a bond analyst at Municipal Market Advisors, based in Concord, Mass., said California's plan was filled with accounting tricks and will likely do little to improve the state's poor credit rating.