SAN ANTONIO -- Stuffed animals, flowers, and handwritten signs adorned the lawn in front of the home where police said a mother killed her child early Sunday morning.

The parents of a 3½-week-old boy, Scott Wesley Buchholz Sanchez, were talking about restarting their relationship hours before the child's death, said the baby's paternal grandmother.

The child's mother, 33-year-old Otty Sanchez, decapitated and stabbed her son with a knife and two swords, ate parts of his body and attempted to kill herself, said San Antonio Police Chief Bill McManus.

Sanchez stabbed herself in the torso and sliced her own throat, McManus said. Sanchez was recovering at University Hospital, where she was charged by proxy with capital murder. Bail was set at $1 million.

McManus said that the attack happened one week after the baby's father moved out of the home at 351 Wayside Drive. McManus wouldn't say if the breakup was a motive for the slaying.

The child's paternal grandmother, Kathleen Buchholtz, said Otty Sanchez showed no signs of any emotional problems when she saw her and the baby on Saturday evening. The child's parents had spoken of restarting their relationship, Buchholtz said.

"I'm heartbroken about it, " she said. "That's all I can say. Heartbroken. I just don't understand it."

The child's aunt and two cousins, ages 5 and 7, were in the house at the time of the killing, but none of them were harmed, police said.

McManus said that Sanchez told officers that "she was hearing voices" and that the devil made her kill her child. Police said Sanchez was found sitting on a couch screaming, "I killed my baby! I want to die!"

The police chief said that the crime scene was so horrific that officers at the scene were disturbed and severely affected by the slaying and may need counseling.

"There are a few officers who have had issues since that scene," McManus said. "There were some unspeakable atrocities associated with this crime. You just don't sit it in this business that often."

Luis Yanez, a neighbor, said that everyone on the street was appalled by the news.

"Give (the child) to me, I'll take care of it," Yanez said. "Give it to anybody else. Drop it anywhere else, but don't kill a baby."

Eliane Colchin, a neighbor who gave Sanchez a crib for her baby a few months ago, was devastated by the news.

"When I heard that, I couldn't stand it. I just cried, you know," Colchin said.