Father calls 911 after finding his 5-year-old stabbed to death; mother charged with murder
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WYFF Staff
CLEAR CREEK, North Carolina (WYFF) — The 911 calls made after deputies say a North Carolina woman stabbed her 5-year-old daughter to death were released Tuesday.
Penny Short Hartle, 50, of Hendersonville, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of her child, according to Henderson County deputies.
Deputies said the stabbing happened Sunday morning at a home on Fiesta Lane in Hendersonville.
The first 911 call was made at 7:41 a.m. from a homeowner on Mazyck Lane, which is just off Fiesta Lane.
“Hey, I have someone who just randomly walked into my house and scared me,” the caller said. “She randomly laid in my bed while I was in it and passed out.”
The caller told dispatchers that she and her boyfriend were sleeping when they heard a voice and felt someone touch them.
The woman in the bed was later identified as Hartle, deputies said.
“Yeah, she’s snoring really hard,” the caller told the 911 dispatcher.
The caller described the woman and then the call ended.
Another 911 call was made at 7:49 a.m. from the same person. The caller told dispatchers the woman had gotten up and walked out of the house. The caller said the woman was shaking and got into a parked truck across the street.
The next call was made by the child’s father at 8:43 a.m.
In the call, he said he went into his daughter’s room to check on her and she was dead. He told the dispatcher that his wife had killed their daughter.
“How could she do something like this?” the father said to the dispatcher.
During the call, the father said that Hartle had already been taken away by an ambulance after being found at a home nearby.
Hartle was expected in court on Monday but a public defender waived the hearing.
No information has been released about her next court appearance.
She is being held without bond.