Background: News footage displays the location where Aurionah-Rakii-Karie Parker-White reportedly stabbed her three children (WBBM). Inset: Aurionah-Rakii-Karie Parker-White (Chicago Police Department).
A woman from Illinois faces accusations of stabbing her three young children at their residence, with one child informing medical staff that their mother allegedly attempted to “send them to heaven.”
Twenty-three-year-old Aurionah-Rakii-Karie Parker-White was charged with three counts of attempted murder along with three counts of aggravated battery to a child. The charges came after her children, ages 1, 3, and 5, were discovered by a tow truck driver outside their Chicago apartment. As per courtroom reports from WMAQ, a local NBC station, prosecutors noted on Saturday that Parker-White’s 1-year-old daughter was found by the tow truck driver on Wednesday, wearing only a bloody diaper.
According to court documents obtained by local Fox affiliate WILD, the driver, 50-year-old DeVaughen Stringfellow, then reportedly saw Parker-White leaving the home carrying another one of her children, who was also covered in blood. Stringfellow rushed the family of four to a nearby hospital.
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Stringfellow spoke to local CBS affiliate WBBM about his encounter with Parker-White, telling the outlet, “She kept screaming, like, ‘I need help! Help me! My baby! I called the police! They didn’t come!’ So, at first, I wasn’t going to put them in my truck with the blood — but I threw them all in the truck.”
Police said that all three children had wounds to their wrists and were admitted to the hospital in serious condition on Wednesday. Upon their arrival at the scene, there was reportedly a trail of blood going from the apartment out to the street.
Prosecutors stated that Parker-White allegedly told several law enforcement officers that she stabbed her children and knew that what she did was wrong. Her apparent reason for the alleged attack was the stress of having to care for the children alone. WMAQ reported that a nurse and a security guard at the hospital told police that Parker-White allegedly “did it because she had no help.”
According to WMAQ, Stringfellow said that Parker-White’s 5-year-old son reportedly attempted to console his mother after the alleged attack, telling her “it’s gonna be alright” and not to cry.
The same little boy also allegedly told hospital staff that his mother “was going to make them go to heaven,” prosecutors said.
In addition to her alleged attempt to kill her children, Parker-White reportedly told police that she also wanted to kill herself.
After Parker-White’s court appearance on Saturday, a judge ordered that she be held at Cook County Jail until she goes to trial. Her next court appearance was scheduled for June 6.
