‘Mommy, stop!’: Chicago woman suffocated daughter, prosecutors say

CHICAGO — A Chicago woman is accused of suffocating her daughter because she believed the child did not love her anymore, slipping a plastic bag over the girl’s head as she screamed, “Mommy, stop!” prosecutors said.

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Andreal R. Hagler, 38, of Chicago, was charged with first-degree murder on Friday and was denied bail, the Chicago Tribune reported. Hagler is accused of the death of her 8-year-old daughter, Amaria Osby, who was found dead in their apartment on Wednesday morning, according to WBBH-TV.

“This little girl’s last image ... is that of her mother placing a plastic bag around her head to asphyxiate her,” Cook County Judge Maryam Ahmad said at Hagler’s initial court hearing on Friday, WLS-TV reported.

The child’s death came a day after a caseworker for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services visited the home, WFLD-TV reported. The agency reported that there had been “no signs of abuse, neglect or danger were noted by our investigator,” according to WMAQ-TV.

According to Assistant State Attorney James Murphy, the victim’s uncle, who occasionally stayed with Hagler and Osby, went to their apartment Wednesday morning after calling several times and not receiving a response, the Tribune reported.

After finding the pair unresponsive, the man called his sister, who immediately called 911, according to the newspaper.

Hagler was lying facedown with a clear plastic bag over her head and “moving a little,” police said. Paramedics discovered “two small legs” from under a comforter and found Osby, who was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:23 a.m. CDT, the Tribune reported.

Hagler later told police she drank bleach and took PCP, and believed her daughter did not love her anymore and loved her father “more,” Murphy said.

Prosecutors said an autopsy determined that Osby died from multiple injuries caused by an assault, including bleeding under her scalp, bleeding on her brain, and injuries from asphyxiation, WBBH reported.

According to a statement that Hagler gave to police, the woman said she and her daughter said their bedtime prayers between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., the Tribune reported. According to Murphy, Hagler said that as her daughter screamed, “Mommy, stop!” she began suffocating the child by placing a plastic bag over her head and telling her it was “their time to go,” because they were both born on May 24.

An attorney representing Hagler said there were no witnesses to the alleged exchange between the woman and her daughter, the Tribune reported. The attorney added that Hagler was not a flight risk but suffers from depression.

According to court records, Hagler was arrested for DUI and child endangerment in 2017 after crashing on the Eisenhower Expressway, WMAQ reported. State police wrote in a report that Hagler was “dazed and confused,” could not spell her last name and did not seem to be aware that she had crashed the car against a concrete median, according to the television station.

Osby, who was 3 years old at the time, was released to the custody of Hagler’s sister, according to court records.

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