HOUSTON—A 28-year-old woman has been charged in the stabbings of two young siblings at their Harris County home Wednesday night.
It happened at Greens Road and Mesa.
Harris County investigators said the children – a 9-year-old girl and 10-year-old boy – were both stabbed multiple times.
"(They had) defensive wounds and other wounds to the chest, to the head and back area," Lt. Jesse Inocencio said.
The suspect, Regina Umagat, is facing two counts of injury to a child with serious bodily injury and is being held without bond.
Investigators said Umagat was babysitting the children at the time of the stabbings.
Neighbors said Umagat is a distant relative of the victims, who lived in the home with them and their grandparents.
"I don’t know if she snapped for some reason or another," next-door neighbor Gary Epps said, adding that he thought Umagat may have had mental problems.
Investigators said they received a call about the stabbings from another neighbor, who told them Umagat was beating on her front door, covered in blood, screaming that she had "stabbed the children."
When deputies arrived, they said they found Umagat lying on the neighbor’s driveway with her hands interlocked behind her head.
Deputies said Umagat told them she’d stabbed the kids, and they were at the home across the street.
When deputies entered the home, no one was there.
Moments later, dispatch told the deputies that two juvenile stabbing victims had arrived at the emergency room at Northeast Memorial Hospital. They apparently were rushed there in a private vehicle by family members.
Both children were listed in critical, but stable condition.
They were transferred via Life Flight to Memorial Hermann, where they remained Thursday.
Epps said the children were adopted by their grandparents.
His said his children are friends with the victims, and he spoke with the grandparents about the incident Thursday morning.
He said he was told the boy ran lock the door after the stabbings and then played dead in case the suspect returned. The little girl was stabbed in the head, Epps was told.
CPS spokeswoman Estella Olguin told the Houston Chronicle that the wounded boy was able to call his grandparents after he was stabbed.
Olguin said the grandparents had gone to the store and left the children in the care of Umagat, their niece.
The boy was stabbed between five and seven times, and the girl was stabbed twice, Olguin told the Chronicle.
Olguin said the family is from Guam, and the children’s biological parents are not in the U.S.
The family had no prior history with CPS, the Chronicle reports.
ilmpb said on November 12, 2009 at 9:25 AM
WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!
missprissy said on November 12, 2009 at 10:06 AM
I just don't know what the world is coming to. EVERYDAY there are children injured or dead at the hands of people that they trust, like their parents and in this case probably the relative. It is just unbelievable that people can do this to a child, hope they survive. God bless them.
bran1074 said on November 12, 2009 at 10:07 AM
first off; WTF!!! and second; I HATE THE NEW LOOK OF THIS WEBSITE!!!
iamjustsayin said on November 12, 2009 at 10:49 AM
bran1074: I second your first and your second... the new comment boards suck
ilmpb said on November 12, 2009 at 11:02 AM
amazing, even in the height of this tragedy, that little boy was smart enough to lock the doors and play dead. Horrific, but kudos to you kid, that was very smart to do. You don't know how that could have further protected you and your sister. I pray for you both to fully recover and heal from this horrible event.
doinitwell said on November 12, 2009 at 11:03 AM
Prayers for the children and grandparents.
hetfield said on November 12, 2009 at 11:06 AM
Why?
broadmindedbroad said on November 12, 2009 at 11:18 AM
God bless and keep these children, and help them to heal physically and emotionally! If they were adopted by their grandparents, they've obviously already experienced some major trauma in their lives that caused the adoption to become necessary. They were lucky their grandparents were there for them! But now to be attacked by their allegedly mentally-unbalanced babysitter/relative, and in such a terrifying manner...what in the world is "civilization" coming to? I hope we get to learn the rest of this story. And yes, I wholeheartedly agree with those others of you who DO NOT LIKE this new format and Comment section! I was told by one of the local KHOU techs that they had designed the original format, but that it has now been replaced by one designed by "the big boys" in corporate. Clearly, "corporate" has no interest in our opinions...we're just the readers of their publications.
broadmindedbroad said on November 12, 2009 at 11:43 AM
Well, I see my comments are ALL being posted, then removed. Guess KHOU doesn't like my expressing my dislike of their new format! I haven't put anything in ANY of my comments that could be construed as obscene or inappropriate, so what other conclusion can I draw?
msyellarose1 said on November 12, 2009 at 11:43 AM
Okay, now what was the reasoning behind this? Crazy.
msyellarose1 said on November 12, 2009 at 11:46 AM
Oh, yes I must agree with so many of you. The new format is pretty bad.
designer23 said on November 12, 2009 at 12:10 PM
Hope the kids make it. Women are really selfish with hardened hearts these days. I like the new website design and community boards. Kudos Khou.
gottago said on November 12, 2009 at 1:00 PM
Is that her mug shot? God Bless the children and grandparents.
firedog said on November 12, 2009 at 1:02 PM
time for some good hemp and oak.
imalady2 said on November 12, 2009 at 3:09 PM
This new format scares the willies out of me. I post, type the 2 words and then nothing....I hope they don't repeat my posts. My prayers for the complete physical and emotional recovery of these precious children. No child should ever have to face the fear they did with this relative.
kurtaz said on November 12, 2009 at 3:55 PM
Man this woman is mentally off. Her picture is scary. My prayers for the children.
vanillabloos said on November 12, 2009 at 4:00 PM
Doesn't look as if she has any remorse either!! Just look at the smirk on her face!! I can't imagine doing anything of that nature to my children!! How sad...........how very, very sad. May the Lord have mercy on her, I hope.
worldman said on November 12, 2009 at 5:10 PM
Broadminded broad, I agree with you. They have removed my comments as well. Apparently our thoughts do not matter.
dubie said on November 12, 2009 at 5:41 PM
BROADMINDED BROAD Its their way of silencing your opinion,if they dont like it,its gone specially if you speak in disagreement of obama,about like what happen to lou dobbs,
neisie000 said on November 12, 2009 at 9:27 PM
THIS NEW FORMAT BLOWS!!!
luisa1948 said on November 12, 2009 at 9:29 PM
Parents need to be more careful who they leave their kids with. Too many crazy people out there. Sometimes you can't even trust some relatives. Hope the kids are going to be alright.
mrbones said on November 13, 2009 at 4:03 AM
the devil made her do it