Mother who cut baby's arms off 'wasn't herself'.

[TexasStooge]

Plano mother 'wasn't herself'

Before baby's slaying, parent of accused woman was worried

Associated Press / The Dallas Morning News

PLANO, Texas - The woman who is accused of killing her baby by cutting off the child's arms seemed oddly "euphoric" in a phone conversation the day before the slaying but gave no hint of her plans, the woman's mother said.

Connie Macaulay said her daughter, 35-year-old Dena Schlosser of Plano, talked vaguely about her plans for the next day and promised to call her mother in Canada the next afternoon. But she said something in her daughter's voice was troubling.

"She was euphoric, and it bothered me a little," Ms. Macaulay said Tuesday. "She wasn't herself."

Ms. Macaulay, 58, said she screamed when her husband told her that 10-month-old Margaret Schlosser was dead.

Ms. Schlosser, who had been hospitalized for postpartum depression this year, was charged with capital murder Nov. 22 after telling a 911 operator she cut off her baby's arms. Police found her in the living room, covered in blood, still holding a knife and listening to a hymn.

"I couldn't imagine Dena doing something like that," Ms. Macaulay said. "She was perfect. She never did anything wrong."

Ms. Macaulay, who has advanced Parkinson's disease, said she fears for her daughter and is devastated that she can't be with her.

"The feeling of not being able to see her again is hard. I'm very ill, and she'll be incarcerated," said Ms. Macaulay, speaking in a weakened voice between gasps. "I don't know how to cope. I love her, but I don't think what she did was right, but I love her and I don't want to see her hurt. She's just a gentle soul."

Ms. Macaulay also said she feared for her two other granddaughters, ages 6 and 9, who have been in foster care since the killing. Child Protective Services took temporary custody after determining that their father, John Schlosser, failed to protect his children from their mother.

The father is undergoing a battery of tests and counseling while CPS investigates who should get permanent custody of the girls.

Ms. Macaulay doesn't want her son-in-law to get the girls back, saying he isn't stable enough.

She said that Mr. Schlosser had little patience with the girls and that she had seen her daughter correct him for pinching them and twisting their arms when he disapproved of their behavior.

Mr. Schlosser has declined media interviews. His attorney, Howard Shapiro, dismissed Ms. Macaulay's statements.

"I'm looking for Dena Schlosser's mother to shift responsibility to anyone besides her daughter," Mr. Shapiro said. "She's certainly entitled to her opinion, but I don't agree with it. I know of nothing in John Schlosser's history that would be indicative of any reason why he shouldn't have full custody of his own children."

Ms. Schlosser remained in the Collin County jail. Her attorney, David Haynes, has said she is still confused but is improving under anti-psychotic medication.

Meanwhile, Mr. Haynes' legal team is looking into Ms. Schlosser's association with a nondenominational church and its leader, Doyle Davidson, a self-proclaimed prophet.


Ms. Macaulay said she thinks her daughter turned to Mr. Davidson because she could no longer depend on her mother.

"I have Parkinson's and she couldn't depend on me," Ms. Macaulay said. "He could give her all the answers, and she needed them."

In January, CPS investigated Ms. Schlosser for neglect after she left the newborn alone and her 5-year-old daughter was seen chasing her mother down the street on a bicycle. CPS closed the investigation in August after Ms. Schlosser received psychiatric treatment for postpartum depression and the agency determined she was stable.