12-Y-O Girl, Sibling Survive Mother's Butcher-Knife Stabbing Two Weeks After Baptism
A 12-year-old Missouri girl and her 2-year-old brother who were brutally stabbed by their mother with a butcher knife before stabbing herself to death in a maniacal rage on Sunday are expected to survive. A pastor who baptized the girl just two weeks ago witnessed the attack and believes the Lord may have saved the children.
Jim Minor, a pastor in Waynesville who recently became neighbors with the family, told local news station KY3 that he watched the horror unfold as the girl's mother, Yvonne Holmes, 37, fatally stabbed herself after stabbing two of her three children about 2:45 p.m. on Sunday.
"We had just baptized her little girl about two weeks ago, so maybe God stood in there and got her safe," said Minor who believes it was a miracle the children survived. "I believe in Jesus Christ and I keep that always in my head. This stuff is the world — and, as a Christian, we deal with it all the time. And so that's just part of the world and so I pray for the father. He lost his girlfriend, or wife, I don't even know which he was, but I pray for him and I pray for her family. That's the kids' mama. It was terrible."
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Pulaski County Sheriff Ron Long said deputies found Holmes lying in the front yard of a home in the 25300 block of Highway W, with multiple stab wounds. She died moments after she was discovered.
Emergency responders also found the 12-year-old girl and her brother suffering from numerous stab wounds. They were taken to a hospital with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries. A 38-year-old man said to be the father of the children was also injured trying to protect them.
Witnesses explained that Holmes was visiting her children at their dad's home when she became delusional, brandished the butcher knife and began stabbing them.
Minor said the children were able to run to his house and he wrapped their injuries in towels, and took them from the scene.
"The oldest girl, she was stabbed in the back and across the chest, and the little boy was stabbed across the throat a couple times," said Minor. "It was bad, it was a bad thing."
Minor said he only moved to the home a day before the stabbing and is glad he was there to help.
"They (the kids) were both standing, and walking on their own. Matter of fact, I had the towel and wrapped the little boy and I walked him across the road and his dad and the other little girl," Minor explained.
An unidentified local officer said Holmes was "not in her right mind" during the incident.
"She was delirious, she was not in her right mind, referring to Miss Holmes, that's the part we're continuing to investigate, the autopsy's been scheduled," the officer told KSPR.
The officer added that the children's father, who walked in on Holmes as she stabbed them, helped stopped the attack.
"We are fortunate that this man was there at the time, because if he wasn't there to intervene — he saved these kids' lives," the officer said.
A toxicology test is expected to reveal if drugs were involved.
