By Robert Moran
Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer
A woman who allegedly stabbed her 8-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter to death was released from a hospital this morning and turned over to police to face murder charges.
Police identified her as Chanthy Mao, 27, a recent immigrant from Cambodia.
Mao was taken to Police Headquarters this morning after undergoing a psychiatric evaluation at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
She was awaiting an initial court hearing on charges of murder in the slayings of her son Savann and daughter Savanna inside their home on the 1700 block of South 18th Street in South Philadelphia's Point Breeze section.
The children were pronounced dead by medics at 5:25 p.m. Wednesday inside their first-floor apartment.
Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said Mao told police that she had stabbed her children, and she was "acting irrationally."
Police did not disclose this morning if doctors had determined if she was under the influence of medications or other substances.
Police responded to the apartment around 5 p.m. after receiving calls about a disturbance and a person with a weapon.
The children were found in their bedroom, Small said. They had been stabbed repeatedly in the chest.
A knife found in the apartment appeared to be the weapon, police said.
The children's maternal grandmother was in the apartment when police arrived and may have discovered the slayings.
Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey visited the scene Wednesday night.
Chea Meas, 43, a social worker, said the family was from Cambodia and that the mother and children had come to the United States about a year and a half ago.
Meas said he met the children's grandfather, Man Mao, five years ago after Mao obtained political asylum in the United States. The rest of Mao's family was later allowed to join him.
Meas said he met the mother and children a few times. The mother seemed "very normal," and the children were "very polite," he said.
The family had moved to 18th Street in the last year or so, neighbors said.
Meas said the grandfather had called him last week about enrolling the children in a neighborhood school.
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