Mom Faces Grand Jury in Son’s Slaying

A Mission Viejo woman accused of killing her 17-month-old son while visiting relatives in Oregon is scheduled to face a grand jury today that could charge her with a capital crime, police said.

Marieluise Kashefi, 36, has been charged with aggravated murder, and could face the death penalty if convicted, said Beaverton police spokesman Mark Hyde. A grand jury will examine the case today to determine whether the charge should be lessened, he said.

“For whatever reason she stabbed her son to death, and after that tried to commit suicide,” said Beaverton Police Chief Dave Bishop. “The whys, we don’t know.”

Kashefi and her husband, Farzad Kashefi, 35, arrived Tuesday to stay with his aunt and uncle at their home in a quiet, middle-class neighborhood in the Portland suburb, Beaverton police said.

While Farzad Kashefi and his aunt were out walking Wednesday afternoon, police say Marieluise Kashefi fatally stabbed her son in the stomach with an unknown sharp object, then cut herself, police said. It was unclear whether the uncle was home at the time.

Alexander Sohel Kashefi was already dead when paramedics and police arrived about 2:30 p.m., Hyde said.

Marieluise Kashefi’s stab wounds were superficial, Bishop said, but he added, “I think she was serious about hurting herself.” She was treated at Providence St. Vincent Hospital in Portland.

Bishop said Marieluise Kashefi appears to have some history of mental illness, but investigators are checking her background further. She is being held without bail at the Washington County Jail.