By: Richard L. Smith
Image Credit: NJ.com
A Salem County judge has ruled that a Penns Grove woman who admitted to fatally stabbing her 5-month-old daughter nearly four years ago was legally insane at the time of the killing.
Kristhie I. Alcazar, 30, told investigators she believed she needed to “fulfill the last of her sins, murder,” according to court records from the December 3, 2021 incident at her Penns Grove Gardens apartment.
Officers who responded to a 911 call found Alcazar and her mother inside the home, where the mother directed police to a blood-stained kitchen knife in a bathroom sink.
Alcazar had been indicted in 2022 on first-degree murder charges and a weapons offense, but her case was decided this week in a bench trial before Superior Court Judge Russell DePersia.
The judge reviewed details of Alcazar’s documented mental health struggles and the treatment she received after her arrest.
A psychiatric evaluation determined that while Alcazar understood the physical nature of her actions, she did not comprehend that they were wrong.
Judge DePersia accepted that finding and issued a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
Alcazar will remain under lifelong court supervision and is set to be transferred to the Ann Klein Forensic Center in Trenton. 
A post-acquittal psychiatric evaluation there will decide whether she poses a danger to herself or others and whether continued confinement is necessary.