Roseville Mom Charged with Attempted Murder in Knife, Axe Attack of Daughters

Hit 5 times with axe, girl grabs blade to fight off mother

ROSEVILLE, Minn. -- A Roseville mother has been charged with attempted murder in the stabbing of her two daughters Thursday afternoon.

Sylvia Lynn Sieferman, 60, is in stable condition in a security area of Regions Hospital in St. Paul, recovering from her self-inflicted injuries. She has not yet been booked at the Ramsey County Jail, but bond has been set at $250,000.

What happened

According to the criminal complaint, Sieferman called 911, telling dispatchers, “I killed my children,” and requesting police and paramedics. Coughing and breathing heavily, she told the 911 operator she cut her daughters with a knife, then said, “the knife is hurting me now.”

Minutes later, a neighbor called 911, saying Sieferman’s daughter, Hannah, had come over and was bleeding profusely. The girl told the neighbor their mother tried to kill her and her sister, Linnea, who was not breathing.

‘Kill Me! Kill Me!’

When police arrived at the Roseville home, Sylvia Sieferman was sitting on the front steps, bleeding, holding a phone and yelling “Kill me! Kill me!”

Officers entered the home and found the walls and floors to be covered in blood, with Linnea Sieferman lying unresponsive in a pool of blood with multiple stab and cut wounds.

Hannah told police her mother “just lost it,” attacking them with a knife, and said “my sister should be dead.”

Sieferman and her daughters were all taken to Regions Hospital, where Hannah is in good condition and Linnea remains in critical condition.

Note found in search of home

When searching the Roseville home, investigators found a yellow legal pad, with note that read, “Sorry, I can’t deal with them anymore.”

A five-inch bloody knife and bloody axe were recovered from the home, and blood samples from all over the house were collected as evidence.

Describing the attack

While at the hospital, Hannah Sieferman told a detective she and her sister were playing video games the night before and didn’t get much sleep. She said she had an egg sandwich her mom made for lunch, then went upstairs to talk to her sister.

When she came back down the stairs, Hannah told police her mom was walking upstairs with a pillow, a knife and an axe. She watched as her mother went into Linnea’s room and stabbed the girl several times.

Girl grabs axe blade in self-defense

Hannah ran down the stairs and locked herself in a bathroom, but Sylvia Sieferman forced open the door and hit Hannah between the neck and head with the axe.

Hannah estimates she was hit five times with the axe before she was able to grab hold of the blade, hit her mom in the face and run away.

Hannah, who had cuts on her hands from grabbing the axe blade, told police her mom said “I’m a bad mom” and “I had to do this” during the attack.

Girls adopted from China

Sieferman is a single mother in her 50s who adopted her daughters from China. She has apparently snapped before, had some money problems and has told friends "the girls would be better off with someone else."