WASHINGTON — An April trial date has been set for one of the two women who
dubbed themselves “demon assassins” in the brutal murders of two children and
the stabbings of two others.
At a Wednesday morning status hearing, Monifa Sanford, 22, addressed
Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Cherly McCally in a child-like voice and
sat as her attorney David Felsen spoke to State’s Attorney John McCarthy and
Assistant State’s Attorney Peter Feeney.
She will be tried on two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder
on April 12.
A psychiatric evaluation found Sanford not criminally responsible for her
actions in the grisly killings in a Germantown, Maryland, home last January.
Police say Sanford and her housemate Zykieya Avery believed that Avery’s four
children were possessed by demons and decided they would perform an exorcism.
According to police, the two women first attacked 1-year-old Norell,
attempting to snap his neck. When that failed, they stabbed him, then killed
his 2-year-old sister Zyana.
Avery’s two older children, who were 5 and 8, survived the bloody attacks.
Police say the two women attended a local church together and formed a small
group, dubbing themselves “demon assassins.”
Court documents showed that the women believed demons were leaping from the
body of one child to another on the January night the killings took place.
According to court documents, Zykiea Avery’s trial has been set for Jan. 20.
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murders - Police: Mom charged in kids’ death feared devil
WTOP’s Kate Ryan contributed to this report. Follow @WTOP on Twitter and on WTOP Facebook page.
