Illinois Mom Who Slashed 4-Year-Old's Throat, Wrote 'Divine Mercy' In Blood Says She's Ready For Release

BLOOMINGDALE, IL — A former DuPage County woman who was found not guilty by reason of insanity in her 4-year-old daughter's gruesome 2010 murder says she's sane and ready to be released. Marci Webber, now 50, slit her daughter's throat, then scrawled "Divine Mercy," "Satan" and "evil" in the toddler's blood on the bathroom walls in a family member's suburban Bloomingdale home. At the time of the killing, she told authorities she did it to prevent the toddler from being sold into sex slavery on the Internet and said she believed she was saving the girl.

The body of 4-year-old Magdalene Webber, known to the family as Maggie, was found in the bathtub. Marci Webber, then 43, reportedly tried to kill herself by slashing her own wrists and throat but survived, NBC Chicago reported in 2010.

Prosecutors said Marci Webber drugged Maggie before cutting her throat with a four-inch knife, but it's possible she woke up during the killing, according to NBC.

In 2012, Webber was found not guilty by reason of insanity and ordered to a state mental health facility for as long as 100 years. Now, Webber says she is stable and no longer mentally ill, and is seeking to be released. DuPage County Judge George Bakalis has regularly reviewed Webber's mental health progress reports and will hear her request for discharge on Sept. 26, the Chicago Tribune reported.

In a series of interviews with the Tribune, Webber has said she is now sane and takes full responsibility for the crime, although she believes the violence was prompted by temporary psychosis caused by her long-term use and sudden withdrawal from prescription anti-depressants and anti-psychotic drugs.

"Everyone's reaction is, 'How can a mother do something like that?'" she told the paper. "I understand that. I couldn't imagine that I could have done this either, but anyone who has a true psychosis knows you don't have the ability to make a choice."

Webber spent four years at Elgin Mental Health Center before being transferred to Chicago-Read Mental Health Center last fall.

Prior to the killing, Webber reportedly had a long history of mental health struggles, suicide attempts and two failed marriages. Maggie was the youngest of Webber's three daughters. In 2012, oldest daughter Mallory, who found her little sister's body, said she bore no ill will against her mother.

"I don't hold any anger against her because I really know it wasn't her. She never would have done that," she told the Daily Herald. " ... She's so heartbroken and wishes she could turn back time. She knows what she did and is incredibly sorry." Mallory Webber said her mother, a devout Catholic, battled alcoholism and received varying diagnoses ranging from depression to bipolar disorder to borderline personality disorder and psychosis.

Marci Webber has been seeking her release since 2014. A native of Woodstock, she and daughter Maggie had lived in New York before moving to Bloomingdale several weeks before the murder.

Marci Webber after her November 2010 arrest/DuPage County State's Attorney's Office