Roseville mom who attacked kids gets prison

The Roseville woman will serve at least 11 years for using a knife and axe on her daughters.

By ANTHONY LONETREE, Star Tribune

Last update: July 2, 2009 - 11:35 PM

A Roseville mother who pleaded guilty to trying to stab her two young daughters to death was sentenced Thursday to nearly 17 years in prison.

"I'm sorrier than I can say that all this happened," Sylvia Sieferman, 61, a former systems analyst and Boston University professor, said in a brief statement to Ramsey County District Judge Paulette Flynn.

Sieferman, whose life began to unravel after a 2004 layoff from the former Guidant Corp. (now Boston Scientific), must serve at least 11 years in prison under the plea agreement negotiated in May.

Flynn told her the August attacks were an "unspeakable tragedy" and that "the only positive is that you were not successful" in killing the two girls.

Sieferman's daughters -- both 11 at the time of the attacks and now being raised by a relative of their mother -- did not appear in court, and offered no victim impact statements.

Two months ago, at her plea hearing, Sieferman spoke of how she had been depressed, and drinking heavily, and had set out to kill the girls out of fear that she would leave them to be raised by strangers if she killed herself.

She took a butcher knife and a pillow to daughter Linnea's room, and after putting the pillow up to Linnea's face so the child wouldn't see anything, cut her throat. She then attacked Linnea's sister, Hannah, with an axe.

Sieferman said she didn't recall the second attack.

Officers arrived at the family's townhouse in the 400 block of County Road C to find Sieferman alone on the front steps, bleeding heavily from a self-inflicted stab wound to the neck, yelling, "Kill me, kill me."

Her injuries required two months of hospitalization.

Paul Rogosheske, her attorney, said at the time of Sieferman's plea hearing that he believed she had a viable mental illness defense, but that she had decided to plead guilty to spare her daughters the ordeal of a trial.

Cynthia Stange, an attorney representing Sieferman in civil matters, announced Thursday that a trust fund had been set up for the two girls at the urging of a family friend and the mother's former co-workers.

Friends quoted in the news release described the children as "wonderful kids" who had enjoyed their lives in Roseville. Through the trust, they said, it was hoped "they have what they need to heal and move forward."

The trust -- established in the girls' names -- will go to help pay their educational costs. To contribute, people can go to any Wells Fargo branch, or send a contribution to Cynthia Stange, 1970 Oakcrest Av., Suite 217, Roseville, MN 55113. Checks can be made payable to the Hannah & Linnea Sieferman Trust.

Anthony Lonetree • 612-673-4109

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