WESTON, W.Va. — A Lewis County woman charged with killing her three-month-old daughter will be in court Tuesday afternoon for a preliminary hearing.
Krista Brunecz, 31, will appear before a Lewis County magistrate at 12 p.m. She was arrested and charged Friday with the death of a child by a parent by child abuse.
Brunecz is accused of stabbing her infant daughter with a butcher knife and then stabbed herself on the morning of Dec. 30, 2022 at the Weston Arbors Apartments.
Lewis County Sheriff David Gosa told MetroNews there was blood all over the apartment when deputies arrived on scene.
“They found the mother sitting on the couch and the baby laying there on the couch. It was a pretty bloody mess,” Gosa said. “The three-month-old baby had been stabbed and the mother had stab wounds also that she inflicted on herself.”
Gosa said Brunecz and the baby were rushed to Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hospital for treatment.
“The baby passed once it got to the hospital,” Gosa said.
Brunecz was then flown to Ruby Memorial Hospital where she was treated for self-inflicted stab wounds to the head, chest and wrist.
MORE Brunecz criminal complaint
A bloody butcher knife was recovered on a chair next to a coach, according to the criminal complaint.
The complaint also said Brunecz sent a photo to her mother Lorrie Clevenger of Brunecz holding the child, who appeared lifeless, with blood running down her head to the chest area.
Gosa said the case is gruesome because it involved the brutal murder of an innocent baby.
“It’s very tough to handle a case like this because we all have kids,” he said. “We come into situations like this and you just have to try to not let your emotions get in the way of the investigation.”
Earlier this month, a nurse practitioner at Stonewall Memorial Hospital who took care of Brunecz told a deputy she asked Brunecz what happened. Brunecz told the nurse she “stabbed her baby, then herself” and that she intended to kill her baby, according to the complaint.
The baby died of several stab wounds to the chest, according to an autopsy by the state Medical Examiner’s Office.
Brunecz is currently being held in the North Central Regional Jail.