In what police describe as one of the most gruesome crimes against a child in recent memory, an infant boy was stabbed, decapitated and mutilated early Sunday.

His 33-year-old mother claimed responsibility, police said.

Otty Sanchez told police that she was “hearing voices” and that the devil made her kill Scott Wesley Buchholtz Sanchez, to whom she gave birth on June 30, San Antonio police spokesman Joe Rios said.

Sanchez used a steak knife to repeatedly stab the nearly 4-week-old baby, then decapitate and mutilate him, Rios said. A police source said the baby was skinned and gutted.

Sanchez then used the knife to stab herself in the chest and abdomen, police said.

Sanchez was detained and taken to University Hospital, where she remained in stable condition Sunday night. She was charged by proxy late Sunday with capital murder, which is punishable by the death penalty. Bond was set at $1 million.

The brutal crime unfolded in a single-story home in the 300 block of Wayside Drive, where police were called just before 5 a.m. According to police, Sanchez lives in the North Side home with her sister and the sister’s two children, and Sanchez’s mother stays in a small, separate structure behind the house.

Neighbor Elaine Colchin said that just months ago, she was cleaning out her garage when Sanchez’s mother stopped by and asked for a discarded baby bed.

“I gave it to her, and she was so happy, she was going to paint it for her new grandson,” Colchin said. “It was a family bed — my daughter, son and husband all used it; now it turned out to be a nightmare.”

It was Sanchez’s mother who called police Sunday. She told them she was awakened by Sanchez around 4:30 a.m. She said she saw her daughter sitting with the boy. He had been decapitated, a police report said. Sanchez’s mother took the baby, put him on a bed and called police, according to the report.

When police arrived, Sanchez was sitting on a couch, yelling, “I killed my baby. I want to die,” the report said.

An officer found the child’s body lying in blood on a bed next to the knife, believed to be the weapon used in the killing, and two swords, which Rios said were not involved in the death. Authorities were seen carrying two bags out of the home, and officials on the scene confirmed that they contained the baby’s remains.

The baby was missing body parts, and police were investigating claims the mother made to them about ingesting those parts, sources said.

Colchin was surprised to hear that Sanchez, who brought her baby across the street for a visit last week, is a suspect in the infant’s death, though she admits Sanchez sometimes appeared a bit odd.

“She was never aggressive; always sweet,” Colchin said. “She did seem to be living in a world of her own, but she must have been deranged. I feel so sorry for that baby, the little angel.”

Rios said Sanchez did not have a criminal history related to mental illness, but police will investigate that further, and the district attorney’s office will handle how Sanchez’s mental state affected her actions.

There was one police report on file, from May 2008, when Sanchez’s mother called police to report that Sanchez went to Austin and didn’t return. In the report, the mother told police she believed that Sanchez went to Austin to use drugs and that Sanchez was not suffering from mental issues.

The two children of Sanchez’s sister were home at the time of the baby’s death and were not injured.

Rios said initial information showed that the baby was Sanchez’s only child. The baby’s father, who did not live with Sanchez, was notified. A relative of the father said the family did not want to comment.

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