A woman accused of hanging a 16-month-old boy in a noose and injuring others in a violent episode pleaded guilty Thursday to attempted murder, the Pioneer Press reports.
Nataliia Karia, 43, of Minneapolis, faces up to 15 years in prison in connection to the incidents. All of the victims survived, although some were injured.
According to authorities, Karia was running an in-home day care on Nov. 18, 2016, when she brought a toddler into the basement of her home to look for clothes for her daughter. Karia has said she doesn’t clearly recall exactly what happened, but she said during a psychological exam that she remembered the boy was hanging from a noose and making choking sounds.
As the boy was hanging, a father stopped by the home to drop off his young son. She told the father that she “couldn’t take it anymore” and that he should see what she had done. The father heard crying as he walked toward the basement. When he saw the child hanging from the noose, he grabbed the boy and fled the basement with him.
Karia then got into a van and sped away from the home. She rear-ended a vehicle, and when the driver of the car got out to look at the damage, Karia struck him and dragged him for 10 blocks, the newspaper reports.
She then hit a bicyclist and, minutes later, was threatening to kill herself by jumping off an overpass onto a busy interstate. Passersby physically prevented Karia from jumping until police could arrive.
Karia said in court that she was having mental health problems at the time of the incidents and even in the weeks before.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for late April. Karia could spend up to 15 years behind bars.
[Feature Photo: Nataliia Karia/Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office]