A Salem County woman charged with murder in the stabbing death of her 5-month-old daughter nearly four years ago has been found not guilty by reason of insanity. Kristhie I. Alcazar, 30, of Penns Grove, told police she killed her child to “fulfill the last of her sins, murder,” according to court documents. Police officers responded to a 911 call at Alcazar’s Penns Grove Gardens apartment unit on Dec. 3, 2021, and found the woman and her mother. The mother told them her daughter was having a “traumatic episode” and officers took Alcazar outside to speak with her, according to prosecutors. The mother walked upstairs in the apartment and began screaming when she discovered the dead baby in a bedroom. Officers raced upstairs and found the girl with multiple stab wounds to the chest, officials said. Alcazar admitted stabbing the child and directed officers to a bloody kitchen knife in a bathroom sink, prosecutors said. A Salem County grand jury indicted Alcazar in 2022 on three counts, including first-degree charges of purposeful and knowing murder and a third-degree count of possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. During a bench trial on Monday, in which a judge rather than a jury reached a verdict, Superior Court Judge Russell DePersia reviewed details of Alcazar’s mental health issues leading up to the killing. He also described her behavior and the treatment she received after she was arrested. A psychiatric evaluation concluded that while Alcazar knew the “nature and quality of her actions” on the day of the killing, “she did not understand that her actions were wrong,” the judge said, reading from a doctor’s report. Based on the evidence in the case, the judge found Alcazar not guilty by reason of insanity. Alcazar will remain under court-ordered supervision for life, the judge said. She will be transferred from jail to the Ann Klein Forensic Center, a state psychiatric hospital in Trenton, for a post-acquittal psychiatric evaluation. That evaluation will determine if she poses a danger to herself or others and whether she should remain confined.
https://www.silive.com/nation/2025/11/a-new-jersey-mom-stabbed-her-baby-girl-to-death-she-was-found-not-guilty.html
