Mom, 35, is charged with attempted murder for attacking her two little children, 3 and 6, with a knife so badly one may need arm amputated, police say

A South Carolina mother has been accused of slashing her two children with a knife, causing horrific injuries that may lead to amputation, police say.

Taylor Gosnell, 35, was charged with attempted murder after allegedly stabbing her children, aged three and six, more than 50 times at her Spartanburg County home Saturday afternoon, according to WSPA News. 

Police arrived to find blood throughout the home, mirrors smashed and two unattended children severely injured inside, particularly the six-year-old boy. 

‘He’s currently facing the possibility of amputation of fingers and possibly an arm due to the severity of the injury sustained,’ the 7th Circuit Solicitor’s Office said in bond court, according to the outlet.

Both children survived and were rushed to hospital, where they are expected to recover. Gosnell, who investigators said appeared distressed when they arrived, was instead taken for a mental health evaluation. 

The horrific attack came as a shock to neighbors, who said they had no idea what was unfolding just feet away and had never witnessed anything unusual coming from the home. 

‘Me and my son, we spent just about every day outside. We’d be outside for a good six hours out of the day in the summertime. And you never seen, you never heard anything. Never,’ an unidentified resident told Fox Carolina.

Another man added: ‘We’re devastated that that went on over there and these babies got hurt and we’re praying for them.’

However, she had previously come to police attention over allegations involving children, including pending child endangerment charges dating back to 2024, according to The State. 

Gosnell was booked into the Spartanburg County Detention Center later that night and remains behind bars without bond as the sheriff’s office continues investigating. 

‘We’re going to do our job,’ Graham McLellan with the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office said, according to WSPA. 

‘Our deputies are going to go out there and do what they have to do to make sure that there’s justice delivered for these children,’ he added.

The horrifying discovery began when police were called to a home on the 1400 block of Bud Arthur Bridge Road in Cowpens around 2.30pm Saturday to perform a welfare check on two children. 

The six-year-old had called his grandmother saying he and his sibling were home alone and that he was hungry, prompting her and Gosnell’s ex-boyfriend to rush to the property and call 911. 

Inside, deputies found the two children ‘covered in blood’ with ‘countless lacerations’ across their bodies. 

‘Some of the lacerations were so deep they cut to the bone,’ the solicitor’s office said during Sunday’s bond hearing.

The home was described as a blood-soaked scene, with televisions and mirrors smashed and shattered glass and debris strewn throughout the house. 

‘There is no preparation that our deputies can have to see something like that,’ the sheriff’s office said.

When Gosnell returned to the scene shortly afterward, police said she was speaking rapidly and appeared increasingly distressed. She also told officers she was experiencing ‘visions.’ 

She then attempted to flee the scene, but officers handcuffed her to a stretcher and placed her in an ambulance for a mental health evaluation. 

The children were placed in protective custody and rushed to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center before being transferred to Greenville Children’s Hospital, where they are still being treated.

While doctors expect both children to make a full recovery, the sheriff’s office said they are expected to undergo additional surgeries.

An investigation found that Gosnell attacked her children with a knife and a blunt object sometime early that morning, while it was still dark outside, authorities said.

She was booked into jail shortly before midnight and charged with two counts of attempted murder, the sheriff’s office announced. 

‘I’m just praying that [the children] are placed somewhere that they will be safe and taken care of,’ neighbor Cheryl Bryant told WSPA 7 News.

Gosnell was out on bond at the time of her latest arrest after being charged in February 2024 with two counts of unlawfully placing a child at risk of harm or willfully abandoning a child, according to court records obtained by The State. 

She was released on $5,000 bond for each charge, both of which remain pending. 

Gosnell was denied bond at Sunday’s hearing, where she was told a circuit court judge would decide the next steps in the case at a later date. The solicitor also said she had no prior criminal history.

She is due back in court for her first appearance hearing on November 12 and, if convicted, could face a combined maximum sentence of 60 years in prison.