Penny Short Hartle Hendersonville, North Carolina mother NC mom fatally stabs 5 year old daughter, Caroline Rose Cagle.
A North Carolina mother has been accused of fatally stabbing her 5-year-old daughter to death over the weekend.
Penny Short Hartle, 50, reportedly stabbed her daughter inside their mobile home in Hendersonville before going into another home 1,000 yards away and getting into a bed. A resident told WLOS that a female neighbor called him about someone sleeping in her bed, prompting him to go to the home.
The resident said he initially tried to wake up Bartle but she would not get up.
‘A few minutes later she came out and got in a truck and sat down in it, and it looked like she was shredding paper. Her hands were kind of shaking and she acted like she didn’t know who she was,’ he recalled to the news outlet.
According to a release from the sheriff’s office, deputies responded to 265 Fiesta Lane in the Fruitland Community around 8:43 a.m. Sunday morning in reference to a report of a stabbing.
Under the influence?
WYFF reported that Hartle’s 5-year-old daughter, Caroline Rose Cagle, dying at the scene.
Hartle was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. She waived her first court appearance on Monday, meaning she is not due in court for at least another two weeks.
Police have not disclosed whether they believe Hartle was under the influence of drugs or alcohol on Sunday. The woman remains jailed without bond.
News 13 reviewed state court records which show Hartle has no criminal history in the state.
Struggling with mental illness
Relatives of five-year-old Caroline told News 13 Hartle struggled with mental illness, but that they had never witnessed any mistreatment of Caroline.
Neighbors tell News 13 the father is devastated after finding his daughter unresponsive Sunday morning.
‘She was just a doll,’ said neighbor Alan Wilson. ‘She was Wayne’s princess.’
Hartle’s next court appearance is scheduled for May 17.
