KC mother pleads not guilty by reason of mental illness in son’s gruesome death
A 38-year-old Kansas City woman pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect Friday in the gruesome death of her 6-year-old son in 2022, according to court records.
Tasha Haefs was facing charges of first-degree murder and armed criminal action after officers responded to her home in the 7300 block of Indiana Avenue on Kansas City’s southeast side in February 2022 and found the decapitated body of her son, Karvell Stevens. Officers responded to the home after a woman called and said “the devil was trying to attack her.”
Haefs entered the plea during a hearing before Jackson County Judge Sarah A. Castle. Castle issued a commitment order for a mental health facility, which had not been made public online as of Friday afternoon.
Haefs was set to go to trial this week, but it was canceled, and the plea hearing was scheduled instead after a case management conference earlier this month, according to court documents.
Proceedings had been paused in the case for a while after a judge ordered Haefs to undergo a mental health evaluation, and in June 2022 found her to be incompetent to stand trial. The criminal case resumed in spring 2024, after a judge found her mentally fit to stand trial.
Haefs was set to stand trial in April, but her defense lawyer announced they would pursue a defense that she could not be held legally responsible due to a mental illness or defect. The case was continued to this week to allow her attorney to prepare the defense and for prosecutors to evaluate the defense.
According to court documents, police were called to Haefs’ home about 11:45 p.m. on Feb. 15, 2022. Officers forced entry into the residence and found the decapitated body of her son. Authorities alleged she admitted to killing him in a bathtub.
At the time of the killing, Haefs’ relatives told The Star that she spent years working through drug addiction, depression and severe trauma.
