NJ Woman Talked Human Sacrifice Before Stabbing Brother, Affidavit Says

BRICK, NJ — Hours before a Brick Township woman stabbed her 2-year-old brother, she asked her cousin if the cousin had ever sacrificed someone, according to court documents.

In addition, Marlene Rodriguez told detectives that voices told her what to do, and they had told her to stab her brother, according to the probable cause affidavit filed in the case.

Rodriguez, 20, remains in the Ocean County Jail on Wednesday. She was charged with attempted murder, unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and endangering the welfare of a child, the Ocean County Prosecutor's office said, in the stabbing that happened Nov. 1.

According to the affidavit, Brick police were called to a home on Burke Lane at 2:28 p.m. and found the boy with a stab wound to his chest. The boy was conscious and alert, authorities said.

He was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, where he remains in stable condition, authorities said Wednesday. The affidavit says he suffered a punctured lung and a puncture to the wall of his heart.

At the scene, police learned Rodriguez had stabbed the boy, and after reading her rights to her, she told police she had stabbed her brother.

During interviews at police headquarters, detectives spoke with Rodriguez's cousin, who told them about the conversation earlier in the day. The cousin said Rodriguez asked her if she had ever sacrificed anyone, and if so, who. The cousin said she replied by asking Rodriguez if she had sacrificed anyone, and Rodriguez did not answer.

Rodriguez's sister told authorities that not long before the 911 call she heard the boy crying and went to check on him in Rodriguez's room. She saw the boy was injured and a knife right by him, she said.

As the sister picked the boy up, the cousin came into the room and took him, then the sister carried the boy outside to EMS, as 911 had been called by then, according to the affidavit.

The sister noticed the knife was on a white dresser in Rodriguez's room, and picked it up and took it to the kitchen, where the sister left it on the counter, she told authorities.

At the police department, Rodriguez was again read her rights. She agreed to talk and told detectives that voices told her to stab her brother, and that she remembered doing it.

She told the detectives the voices were of a family she knows, and that when she hears them, "she visually sees what she needs to do," the affidavit said.

Detectives asked her if she knew what she did was wrong.

"She replied (in Spanish) words to the effect of a third person telling her to stop talking so she doesn't go to jail," the detective wrote in the affidavit.

Detectives halted the interview at that point.

Authorities also learned Rodriguez has suffered from mental health issues and had been hospitalized for an unspecified period of time for them, the affidavit said.