Olympia woman pleads not guilty to attempted child murder

The 28-year-old Olympia woman accused of cutting her three children’s throats pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted child murder in Thurston County Superior Court on Tuesday morning.

Christina E. Booth was arrested in the early hours of Jan. 25 and is being held at the Thurston County Jail in lieu of $3 million bail. Judge Anne Hirsch set her trial for the week of March 30 at the hearing.

Olympia Police Department records show that besides Booth’s arrest, there has been no police activity at the family’s home in recent years. Court records show that she has no criminal history.

When police arrived at the home, located on the 2500 block of 10th Court Southeast in Olympia, they found a set of six-month old twins lying on the couch in the living room, bleeding from their throats. Their father, an active-duty solider with the 1st Special Forces Group at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, was trying to stop the bleeding.

A 2-year-old girl in an upstairs bedroom, also bleeding from her throat.

They were taken to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma, where they underwent surgery.

That evening, the couple had been drinking wine and watching a movie together. Before the movie ended, Christina Booth took the older child upstairs and put her to bed, according to court documents.

Then, the twins started crying and she “hit her breaking point.” She went downstairs to retrieve a knife, then cut each child’s throat, according to documents.

Booth told detectives that her husband gets upset whenever the children cry or make noise, and said he never helps with the children. She said that if she killed all of the kids, the house would be quiet for her husband, according to court documents.

Her husband told police that Booth had been taking medication for postpartum depression, according to court documents.

This story was originally published February 10, 2015 at 4:28 PM with the headline "Olympia woman pleads not guilty to attempted child murder."