A registered sex offender in California has been arrested after throwing his one-year-old daughter off a cliff – resulting in her death – and stabbing his pregnant wife multiple times in a domestic violence incident.
According to Independent, the stabbing incident occurred at the parking lot of the Southwest Community Church in Indian Wells on May 6. The suspect, 49-year-old Adam Slater, tried stabbing his six-month pregnant wife multiple times in the throat and stomach before driving off with their daughter, Madalyn Payton Slater.
Slater, with Madalyn in his possession, then drove off Highway 74 around Vista Point, resulting in the car somersaulting into the Coachella Valley, the police and family said. One of the bystanders who helped pull Madalyn out of the vehicle, was allegedly stabbed by Slater. After retrieving the baby from the injured man who tried helping, Slater took her to the edge of the cliff where he threw her.
“Witnesses went to the aid of the occupants of the overturned vehicle several hundred feet from the roadway. The driver then ran to the passenger side of the vehicle, where he stabbed a male who had assisted getting a young girl from the vehicle. The suspect then took the girl from the arms of the male he stabbed,” a statement from the Riverside County Sheriffs’ Department said.
“Multiple witnesess saw the suspect take the child and throw her over a steep cliff into a ravine. The suspect then fled on foot into the canyon.”
Slater was later arrested by officers after a short foot pursuit. The body of the deceased, who was identified as Slater’s daughter, was also retrieved.
“My daughter was the absolute love of my life and she meant everything and more to me,” the victim’s mother, Ashley Grome, said in a GoFundMe she set up to help raise funds for medical expenses and her daughter’s burial.
“Everything I did and everything I will do for the rest of my life is for her. She was beautiful and her smile was contagious, even after a bad day, she always cheered me up. She was taken from this world way too soon.”
Speaking to News Channel 3, Slater’s family confirmed he is a registered sex offender stemming from a 1995 conviction. The victim’s uncle also revealed the extent of her injuries, saying Slater “was being combative” during the altercation.
“He attacked her and tried to stab her several times in the stomach and the throat. She fought him off and tried to protect herself,” he said.
“She’s got some pretty bad cuts and wounds, you know, stabs. To be that violent where you’re going to plot and plan and try to kill somebody like that and purposely do that – and then to do what he did to an infant, a one-year-old infant, no,” he added. “I don’t really have much to say to him.”
Slater has been charged with murder.
