The 7-year-old reached other people after police say he escaped an alleged attack by his mother and ran down the street.
MENOMONIE, Wis. — A 7-year-old boy who authorities say escaped an attack inside his Wisconsin home and ran through a Menomonie neighborhood until he found help became the central witness in a criminal case that now charges his mother, Emily Spalding, with attempted first-degree intentional homicide and intentionally causing great bodily harm to a child.
The boy’s flight from the Kausrud Street home on July 20 changed the course of a night that had already brought police to the address once. By the time officers found him inside a nearby Jimmy John’s restaurant, authorities said there was blood on his face, legs and clothing and a small wound on the top of his head. The boy told police that his mother had pursued him with a knife, pulled him back into the house after one escape attempt and struck him in the head with a hammer. Spalding, 37, is accused but has not been convicted of those allegations.
According to the criminal complaint summarized by WEAU, the boy told officers he had been playing video games in his mother’s bedroom shortly before the violence began. He said Spalding entered the room and tried to stab him. He managed to get away, he told investigators, but said she caught him and pulled him back inside. The child alleged that another attack followed and that Spalding struck him once with a hammer. His second effort to escape took him out of the house and down the street, where he reached people who could call for help.
The child’s ability to get outside created the first direct report to authorities that night of an immediate physical attack. Around 10 p.m., police were dispatched after someone reported seeing a child running in the street and yelling “no.” Dispatch information soon became more urgent: The child was reportedly covered in blood and said his mother was chasing him with a knife and had hit him in the head. Officers located him at the restaurant, where an officer assessed his visible condition and requested an emergency medical response. He was transported to Mayo Clinic in Menomonie for treatment.
At the hospital, investigators continued speaking with the boy about what had happened. In one of the most consequential statements described in the complaint, he told another officer that he believed he would be dead if he had not run away from his mother. The available public reports do not give a detailed medical diagnosis or complete account of his injuries beyond the head wound and blood observed by police. They do establish that the child survived and that child protective services became involved to arrange a safe placement outside his mother’s care.
By then, officers had returned to the Kausrud Street residence and secured the scene. Police detained Spalding and later obtained search warrants connected to the investigation. A warrant was executed at about 2:30 a.m. July 21. Officers recovered a butcher-block knife set, two cellphones and a hammer bearing what police described as a red substance that resembled blood, according to WEAU’s report on the complaint. Authorities also received permission to obtain a DNA sample from Spalding. Public reports reviewed for this story did not provide testing results for the hammer or other seized items, so the evidentiary significance of those objects remains a matter for investigators and the court.
The boy’s eventual placement was handled alongside the criminal investigation. Police contacted child protective services and learned that Spalding’s sister was traveling to Menomonie and could potentially take the child. She later received temporary custody, according to the complaint. That transfer meant the immediate safety question had an answer even while the legal questions surrounding the alleged assault were only beginning. The child’s name has not been used in the reports reviewed for this story, and he is being identified only by his age and relationship to the defendant.
The sister also became a witness. She told investigators that she had seen Spalding the day before the alleged attack and believed Spalding was not acting normally, describing a lack of eating and sleeping along with unusual statements about God. During a later visit to the apartment, the sister said she encountered several items that caused concern, according to the complaint. Investigators included her account among the broader circumstances they were examining. The nature of personal spiritual or occult-themed objects, however, does not itself establish violence, criminal intent or a psychiatric condition, and the prosecution would have to rely on admissible evidence tied to the elements of the charged offenses.
Spalding’s own interaction with police after the child’s escape added another part to the record. Authorities said she stood at the front door and made statements that someone else had taken over her body and was responsible for attacking her son. She also made references to the devil, Satan and angels, according to the complaint. Officers took her into custody and brought her to Mayo Menomonie Hospital for medical evaluation and treatment. A later Civic Media report said she had been moved to the Winnebago Mental Health Institute for a psychological evaluation by Aug. 4. No psychiatric diagnosis should be inferred from those reported statements or from the fact that an evaluation occurred.
What makes the boy’s escape especially significant in the chronology is that police had visited the same home about two hours before he ran for help. A neighbor had requested a welfare check because of concerns about Spalding’s behavior. A witness told police that she had been yelling and swearing, making statements involving curses and saying that children would not need to clean their rooms in heaven. The witness also reported seeing her outside in the rain the prior night apparently speaking to people who were not there. When an officer contacted Spalding during that first response, however, she denied the allegations, appeared calm and blamed the concerns on the neighbors. The child did not ask for help or make a statement then.
Authorities said the information available during the first visit did not meet the criteria for a mental health commitment. Nothing in the public account says the officer observed a weapon, injury or active assault at that point. That distinction is important when reconstructing the night: the first call involved reports of unusual behavior and concerning words, while the second involved a child outside the home with an injury making a direct allegation of violence. The later criminal complaint combines those events into a chronology, but their evidentiary roles are different.
Prosecutors ultimately charged Spalding with attempted first-degree intentional homicide and child abuse by intentionally causing great bodily harm. Under Wisconsin law, the completed offense of first-degree intentional homicide requires an intent to kill. The state’s attempt statute requires proof of intent to commit the underlying crime and acts toward its commission that meet the statutory standard. Because completed first-degree intentional homicide carries life imprisonment, an attempt is classified as a Class B felony under Wisconsin law. Intentionally causing great bodily harm to a child is separately designated a Class C felony.
Those statutory classifications describe the charges, not the outcome. Prosecutors bear the burden of proving the allegations, and the public record reviewed for this article does not establish that Spalding has been found guilty. Her reported transfer for psychological evaluation also raises procedural questions separate from whether the state can ultimately prove its case. An evaluation may address a defendant’s mental condition or ability to participate in proceedings, but it does not substitute for a criminal trial and does not itself determine guilt.
For the boy, the immediate result of the July 20 escape was medical care and removal from the home where the alleged attack occurred. For investigators, his account led back to the residence, to search warrants and to physical items collected as possible evidence. Publicly available reporting reviewed through Sept. 8 did not identify a final resolution of the charges or a later confirmed court disposition. Spalding therefore remains accused of the offenses while the criminal process continues.
Author note: Last updated September 8, 2026.