A North Dakota mother allegedly murdered two of her young children by slitting their throats after telling their father, “Say goodbye to your kids.”
Kailey Erhart, 22, of Mandan, was booked into the Burleigh Morton Detention Center shortly before 11 p.m. Thursday by city police, and police identified the children from her Facebook page as daughter Morgan, 3; son Colton, nearly 2; and daughter Ava, 6 months old, with Morgan and Ava dying of their injuries.
Officers responded to a residence on the afternoon of August 6 regarding a report of a mother who had stabbed her children.
First responders arrived to find Erhart, 22 years old, holding a kitchen knife to her own throat in the home, covered in blood, and she dropped the knife and told officers to kill her.
Officers found three young children lying unresponsive on the floor in a nearby bedroom with wounds to their necks, and a 5-month-old and a 3-year-old succumbed to their injuries and died, but a 1-year-old survived the ordeal following extensive surgery.
The police chief praised the first responders who arrived at the scene.
“A scene like that is something that nobody should ever have to see, and the way [the officers] came through in one of the most horrific times that they’ll probably experience in their life— I’m proud,” said Chief Jason Ziegler from the Mandan Police Department.
District Judge Marina Spahr cited “the extreme violence in these alleged charges and the threat to the community, victims, and children” when setting the bond.
According to the affidavit, tensions had been mounting before the fatal attack.
Video recovered from the father’s phone showed Erhart carrying one of the children while holding the pistol at her hip.
In the video, Erhart tells the father, “Say goodbye to your kids.”
The father told investigators he was able to wrestle a pistol away from Erhart, disassemble it, and throw the pieces throughout the house before Erhart locked him out.
The affidavit states that before officers arrived, Erhart had chased the children’s father and grandmother from the residence with a knife.
The father revealed critical history to police at the scene.
The father told police that Erhart had made comments in the past about killing herself and the children, that he had recently made plans to divorce her and that the couple had separated, and that his wife had been committed to mental health services within the past year and a half, and that Child Protective Services was aware of her comments, but that she had been on medication and was cleared to be with the children.
The father also told officers that Erhart had recently bought a handgun — which officers recovered from the home, according to the affidavit.
After being arrested, Erhart made statements to police.
After being advised of her Miranda rights, Erhart told investigators she had placed the children on the bed and believed their throats had been cut before she did so, and she said she remembered having the knife in her hands when police arrived but did not remember everything that happened.
She was charged with two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, three counts of aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon, two counts of terrorizing with a dangerous weapon and one count of domestic violence with injury, and she could face life in prison without parole if convicted.
In the viral moment that shocked the community, officers responding just before 6 p.m. on Thursday to a mobile home at 1205 South Frontier Trail found Erhart inside with the three children after receiving a report that a mother had locked herself inside intending to kill them.
As officers arrived, they could hear an assault happening inside and forced their way in.
Following a trail of blood through the home, officers found three young children lying motionless on a bed in a bedroom, all three with injuries concentrated near their necks, and the five-month-old and three-year-old had died while the one-year-old required surgery and survived.
Many residents of Mandan on Friday were expressing shock and sadness on social media, and it is not the only multiple homicide that has rocked the small city of 25,000 people in recent memory.
Erhart’s Facebook page indicates she is originally from Dickinson, and the page and court documents show she also previously lived in Bismarck.
Neighbors told the Tribune that the family moved in within the last couple of years, and a Tribune check of Erhart’s criminal history in North Dakota shows only traffic violations.
The Mandan Police Department is providing counseling services to officers and other first responders, Lt. Brent Wilmeth said.
The Morton County Sheriff’s Office, North Dakota Highway Patrol and the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation are assisting Mandan police in the case.
Erhart has yet to enter a plea and will be back in court for her preliminary hearing on October 6.