NBCPhiladelphia.com
Police keep clear the scene of a murder-suicide in Camden, N.J.
By Lauren DiSanto, NBCPhiladelphia.com
Camden police
Police say a Camden, N.J.,?mother apparently decapitated her 2-year-old boy and put his head in the freezer of their home before she fatally stabbed herself.
Chevonne Thomas, 33, called 911 just after midnight to say something had happened to her child, said Jason Laughlin, a spokesman for the county prosecutor's office, NBCPhiladelphia.com reported.
"The information they were receiving was very muddled, but it led them to believe there was a child that was in jeopardy," Laughlin said.
Officers immediately found Zahree Thomas' body on the first floor of the?home and later found the boy's head in the freezer, NBCPhiladelphia.com reported.
The child's mother was upstairs still talking to the 911 operator when officers backed out of the home because they didn't know if she was armed, Laughlin said.
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The mother stabbed herself in the neck with a kitchen knife and died, Laughlin said.
During the 911 call she first accused her boyfriend of stabbing her child, then admitted repeatedly "I did it,"?Laughlin said.
Toxicology tests would be needed to determine if Thomas was high on drugs at the time, he said.
The? mother had lost custody of Zahree in 2010 after allegedly leaving him unattended in a car while she was blacked out in a nearby park from smoking PCP-laced marijuana, prosecutors told The Associated Press. She reclaimed custody of the child five months ago.
There was no immediate word on how long Thomas and the boy had lived at the address. Police don't believe anyone else was in the house.
Camden, which lies across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, has been plagued by poverty and high crime rates.
"Everybody here is very shaken up. One of the sergeant's from my office says it's one of the most grisly things he's seen on the job," said Laughlin.
Thomas leaves behind an 18-year-old child, according to prosecutors.?
This article includes reporting by The Associated Press.
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