Local News in Brief : Mother Pleads Not Guilty in Stabbings

A West Covina woman pleaded not guilty Wednesday to two counts of attempted murder and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the Monday stabbings of her young son and daughter.

Phyllis Patricia Shademan, 29, was arrested after police said they found blood splattered on the walls of her home and her 6-year-old daughter hiding under a bed with multiple stab wounds. Police had been called by a neighbor after the woman’s 7-year-old son, who had also been stabbed, escaped through a window.

Shademan was arraigned in Citrus Municipal Court and will appear today for a bail hearing. She remained in custody Wednesday.

According to court documents, Shademan and her husband, who have been married 10 years, told police that problems had surfaced in their relationship over the disciplining of the children and the mother’s drinking.

By Wednesday, the condition of both children had been upgraded from critical to serious, according to a spokeswoman at Queen of the Valley Hospital. Both suffered collapsed lungs, she said.