'Mommy Is Sleeping': 5-Year-Old On Street Leads Police To Dead Mother

Still in her pajamas, a 5-year-old girl was found walking alone down a busy street in Grafton, Mass., a town not far from Worcester.

It was just after 6 a.m. Wednesday when an officer spotted her and asked her what was wrong.

"Mommy is sleeping, mommy is sick," she told police.

Her parents were at home - her father in the kitchen clutching a knife that was stuck in his neck, her mother lifeless on the bedroom floor.

Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early told reporters that the "bright little girl" led officers to the house, where they found her father, 42-year-old Michael Sugarman, who was still alive and is expected to be charged in connection with the death of the girl's mother, 36-year-old Kelly Sugarman.

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"Keeping in mind we are early in the investigation, the appropriate charges will be forthcoming," Early said in a statement. "The medical examiner has accepted the case and an autopsy will determine the cause and manner of Ms. Sugarman's death."

On Thursday, Michael Sugarman appeared in Westborough District Court dressed in a hospital gown and pleaded not guilty to assault and battery, according to the Associated Press. Prosecutors said they plan to charge him with murder.

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Although the motive is unclear, authorities told the news agency that it appears the couple had been fighting about their finances.

Neighbors said Michael Sugarman worked in construction and Kelly Sugarman was a stay-at-home mom, according to ABC affiliate WCVB.

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Authorities said Grafton police officer Thomas Michniewicz spotted the girl walking alone along the side of Worcester Street early Wednesday.

"She was just running and there was no parents around, no adults around," Jackie Costello, a neighbor, told WCVB. "I didn't know if she was running from one house to another, so I just watched her for a little bit and nobody came out."

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Authorities said the family had not lived in the home very long, so officers had to work with the girl to find out where to go.

When they arrived, they stumbled upon the grisly scene.

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"The officer observed a man on the floor of house's kitchen with what appeared to be a knife protruding from his neck," a police statement said. Kelly Sugarman, the statement added, was "deceased on the floor in her bedroom."

"We don't know at this point what the girl did see or did not see," Early, the district attorney, said at a news conference, according to the Boston Herald.

Authorities said Michael Sugarman was taken to a nearby hospital.

The 5-year-old girl was also taken to a hospital for evaluation, then released to the Department of Children and Families.

It was, the district attorney said, "a tough day" for everyone involved.

"You got a 5-year-old on the side of the road now who doesn't have a mother," he said.

© 2016 The Washington Post