An Uptown woman with PCP in her system killed her 8-year-old daughter this week and told police she did it because she felt like the girl didn’t love her anymore, prosecutors said Friday. It all happened hours after an investigator from the state’s Department of Children and Family Services visited their home.
“So this little girl’s last image … or one of her last images, is that of her mother placing a plastic bag around her head to asphyxiate her,” Judge Maryam Ahmad stated after hearing prosecutors’ allegations. She then ordered Andreal Hagler, 38, held without bail on a charge of first-degree murder.
Police responded to Hagler’s apartment on the 4600 block of North Winthrop around 11 a.m. Wednesday after her sister asked police to check on her well-being. Officers found Hagler lying face down on a bed with a clear plastic bag over her head, Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said. Police removed the bag from her head and reported that she had no other injuries.
Next to Hagler, officers saw the lower legs of Hagler’s daughter, Amaria Osby, sticking out from under a comforter. Her body was cold and she was pronounced dead at the scene, Murphy said.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office ruled that Amaria died from multiple injuries that she suffered in an assault. Murphy said she had bleeding under her scalp and there were other indicators consistent with asphyxiation.
Hagler told police that she and Amaria said their prayers between 8 and 9 o’clock Tuesday evening. She did PCP that night and began drinking bleach. She felt like Amaria did not love her anymore and was “taking her dad’s side,” Murphy alleged.
Upon seeing her mother drinking bleach, Murphy said, Amaria screamed, “Mama stop!”
Hagler said she smothered the girl with a plastic bag because they were both born on the 24th and it was their time to go, Murphy alleged.
Her assistant public defender said Hagler has been a certified nursing assistant for 17 years and worked as an occupational therapist. She has no criminal background and suffers from depression, he said.
The attorney said Hagler “appears catatonic in the jail.”
A spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services confirmed that representatives from its office visited Hagler and Amaria on Tuesday.
“No signs of abuse, neglect or danger were noted by our investigator. This family previously participated in intact family services from a substance abuse related incident in 2017,” DCFS spokesperson Bill McCaffrey said in an emailed statement. “The recent visit was the result of an allegation of domestic violence and was the first contact with the family since closing the prior case in 2018.”
The department’s recent contact with Hagler reportedly involved an allegation of domestic abuse of one parent by another. There were no allegations of neglect or abuse of Amaria, according to DCFS.
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