Autumn Matacchiera pleads not guilty by insanity after throwing a 5 year old girl at an oncoming train as human sacrifice.
Autumn Matacchiera a Hainesport, New Jersey woman with a history of mental illness has pled not guilty by reason of insanity after throwing a five year old girl early this year at an oncoming train.
Upon her arrest in late January, Matacchiera, 20, was charged with first-degree attempted murder after allegedly tossing a little girl she didn’t know on the tracks at the Burlington township light rail station.
Appearing at Burlington County Superior Court on Tuesday, a report via the Courier-Post told of the woman’s lawyer, Brenda Maneri requesting a bench trial.
Autumn N. Matacchiera was arrested in January after she grabbed a woman’s child and tossed the girl in front of an approaching River LINE train.
An officer witnessed the incident and was able to signal for the train to stop, as the woman’s boyfriend jumped onto the tracks to retrieve the child.
The girl was taken to the hospital with minor cuts and bruises.
At the time, Matacchiera told investigators she threw the girl to the ground in a bid to win the love of an estranged relative.
‘I didn’t think it was anything bad,’ she said. ‘Now, I kind of regret it. People tell me that sacrificing a human isn’t the same as sacrificing the animal.’
Wrote Matacchiera in her blog: ‘I have Autism Spectrum Disorder, Bipolar, and Anxiety.’
‘I have been in the mental health system for many years and seen some things change things stay the same.’
‘I want to help other people who are in it. So, this is why I’m writing this.’
Matacchiera’s mother, Laura Matacchiera told NJ.com that her daughter has been in and out of mental health facilities for years, but was ‘not a criminal.’
‘She has mental health issues,’ reiterated the mother. ‘It’s an ongoing problem.’
The mother said that her daughter had resided in multiple mental health facilities while having been repeatedly released despite objections from family.
It wasn’t immediately clear how the troubled woman had been deemed safe to return to society…
A trial date has been set for Nov. 8.
