Uptown woman charged with killing 8-year-old daughter

Update: The following update in italics is from the Associated Press and the details are graphic. We've included our original report at the bottom.

CHICAGO (AP) - A Chicago woman smothered her daughter with a plastic bag on her eighth birthday while the girl screamed “Momma, stop,” because she believed her daughter didn’t love her anymore, prosecutors say.

Andreal Hagler, 38, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of her daughter, Amaria Osby, who was found dead in their apartment, authorities said.

Hagler's brother found the two Wednesday after calling Hagler and not getting any answer, prosecutors said at the woman's bond hearing. When he arrived, he found them both unresponsive inside the apartment and phoned another sister, who called 911.

Amaria was pronounced dead at the scene.

An autopsy determined Amaria died from multiple injuries caused by an assault, including bleeding under her scalp, bleeding on her brain, and injuries from asphyxiation, prosecutors said.

A toxicology report revealed Hagler had PCP in her system.

While in custody, Hagler admitted that, the night before, she and Amaria said their prayers before bed around 8 or 9 p.m., and then she began doing PCP and smothered Amaria with a plastic bag, as her daughter screamed “Momma, stop.”

“She said that she felt it was their time to go, because they were both born on the 24th,” prosecutors said in a court filing.

Hagler also admitted to drinking bleach that night, but her daughter refused to drink any before Hagler put a plastic bag over Amaria’s head to smother her, prosecutors said.

“This little girl’s last image ... is that of her mother placing a plastic bag around her head to asphyxiate her,” Cook County Judge Maryam Ahmad said at Hagler’s initial court hearing Friday.

Ahmad ordered Hagler held without bail.

Hagler works as an occupational therapist and has struggled with depression, Assistant Public Defender Chris Anderson told the judge.

Original report from before the hearing

CHICAGO - A woman has been charged by Chicago Police for killing her 8-year-old daughter before injuring herself in the Uptown neighborhood Wednesday morning.

Police said 38-year-old Andreal Hagler is charged with killing her 8-year-old daughter Amaria Osby. The girl was found around 11:00 a.m. Wednesday morning inside a residence on the 4600 block of N. Winthrop Avenue in the Uptown neighborhood on the city's north side.

According to autopsy results released Friday by the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office, Amaria died from multiple injuries from an assault. Her death was ruled a homicide.

Hagler reportedly also injured herself but she was listed in good condition at Weiss Memorial Hospital.

According to FOX32 News and the Chicago Sun-Times, a case worker from the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services visited spoke with the family a day before the murder, but the agency indicated there were "no signs of abuse, neglect, or danger noted by our investigator."^[1]

DCFS also told reporters that it had "prior contact with this family," including a substance abuse related incident in 2017 in which Hagler was charged with DUI and Child Endangerment after she crashed her car on the Eisenhower Expressway with Amaria, who was 3 years old at the time, in the back seat.

Hagler's official charges are:

• One (1) Felony Count - Murder - First Degree

Hagler is to appear in court later today.

Notes & References

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