Women Charged In Stabbing Deaths Of 2 Kids Believed They Were Performing Exorcisms

Two Maryland women are charged with the stabbing deaths of two children.

Montgomery County Police charged 21-year-old Monifa Denise Sanford and 28-year-old Zakieya Latrice Avery (pictured) with murder in the deaths of two of Avery’s children, a 1-year-old and a 2-year-old. The women are also facing attempted murder charges for injuring the children’s siblings, ages 5 and 8.

Police say the two younger children who died suffered multiple stab wounds.

Police were called to the home where the women lived on Friday. A neighbor called 911 after noticing a vehicle with the door open and a knife laying outside of the vehicle. Avery was arrested when authorities say she tried to flee from a townhouse near the vehicle. Police found the two children dead inside the home, and their siblings and Sanford were taken to the hospital with injuries.

By: Cheston Catalano

Cheston Catalano is a Kentucky-based journalist whose work has been featured in the Chattanooga Times Free Press and the Clarksville Leaf Chronicle. He is a long-time contributor to Liberaland.