A Kentucky single mom attempted to cut out her 10-year-old son’s tongue before fatally shooting him, according to an arrest report.
Kaitlyn Higgins, 28, was taken into custody for the horrific crime after cops found the boy’s body in the trunk of a vehicle outside her Louisville home on Tuesday evening, local station WLKY reported.
A neighbor called police after allegedly seeing Higgins carrying a gun and a lifeless child wrapped in a blanket.
Officers responding to the home in the city’s Taylor-Berry neighborhood found Higgins on the porch and blood on the front steps.
They then opened the trunk of a vehicle she said was hers to discover the dead child with a gunshot wound.
Higgins admitted to detectives that she had tried to cut the boy’s tongue out of his mouth before shooting him, the arrest report states.
Although she has no criminal history, records show she had received at least three citations in the past for dog neglect, the channel reported.
Local residents who heard gunshots Tuesday night were left struggling to comprehend the horror of what authorities say happened at the address.
“I felt like I wish I could’ve saved the child,” neighbor Tayler Alexandra told WLKY. “I know I heard those shots, was there something I could’ve done?”
A woman who said she had babysat both the victim and Higgins’ other son, a 2-year-old, told the station that she suspected the mom’s abuse went beyond animals.
“He had came once to the house with a black eye,” Mya Lancaster said of the victim. “Then he came to the house once again with scratches on his face and neck.
Lancaster claims she didn’t contact child protection services out of fear of retaliation from Higgins, who she said owned a weapon.
“I’m hurt, I’m saddened, I just saw them Sunday,” she said. “I didn’t step up, I didn’t do the right thing, I didn’t listen, I should’ve said something”.
Higgins was charged with murder-domestic violence and tampering with physical evidence.
Her bond was set at $250,000 and she is set to be arraigned Thursday.
Higgins’ other son is safe and in the care of relatives, the Louisville Metro Police Department said.