Shock has gripped South Carolina in the US over the case of a 35-year-old mother accused of attacking her two young children with a knife, inflicting 50 stab wounds inside the family home in Spartanburg.

As the New York Post reports, Taylor Gosnell allegedly attacked her six-year-old son and three-year-old daughter in the early hours of Saturday, leaving them seriously injured.

“In total, across both children, we estimate there were approximately 50 stab wounds,” said Graham McLellan of the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office.

Wounds Reaching the Bone – Older Child Faces Risk of Amputation

According to prosecutors, some of the wounds were so deep that they reached the bone.

The injuries suffered by the six-year-old were particularly serious. According to authorities, the child faces the possibility of requiring the amputation of fingers or even part of the hand due to the severity of the injuries.

Investigators believe the attack was carried out using a knife and an object used as a blunt-force weapon.

The two children were taken to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center, where they are in stable condition and are expected to recover.

Found Alone and Covered in Blood

Police were called to the family home last Saturday afternoon, at around 2:30pm, following a request for a welfare check.

When they arrived at the scene, they found the two children alone inside the house, covered in blood.

According to the findings of the investigation, blood was found in various parts of the house, while televisions and mirrors had reportedly been destroyed, leaving broken glass and other objects scattered around the property.

The authorities were alerted after the six-year-old called his grandmother and told her that he was hungry. The grandmother and Gosnell’s former partner went to the house and called the police.

Mother Returned Home and Was Arrested

Authorities said Taylor Gosnell returned home shortly afterwards and appeared to be in a state of severe emotional distress, speaking rapidly.

She was taken by ambulance for a psychiatric evaluation. However, according to prosecutors, she attempted to escape and had to be handcuffed while restrained on the stretcher.

The 35-year-old is being held without the possibility of bail after a court denied her release on bail on two counts of attempted murder.

Authorities subsequently issued an additional warrant against her for possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

The Lindsay Clancy comparison

The Spartanburg case has drawn comparisons to that of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts nurse charged with strangling her three children in Duxbury in January 2023 before jumping from a second-story window. Clancy did not deny the killings but argued she lacked criminal responsibility because of postpartum psychosis and bipolar disorder; after a lengthy trial, a deadlocked jury produced a mistrial in September 2026. As with Gosnell, who authorities said returned home in severe emotional distress and was taken for a psychiatric evaluation, the Clancy case has renewed debate over how courts and the public should weigh maternal mental illness when young children are attacked.

The investigation into the exact causes and circumstances of the attack is continuing.