Police: Pennsylvania mom said she heard voices telling her to kill her 5-year-old son

LILLY, Pa. (KDKA) -- A Pennsylvania woman charged with homicide said she heard voices telling her to kill her 5-year-old son, police said. 

Jennifer Bowser is accused of killing her son, Samson Bowser, on Monday, CBS affiliate WTAJ reports. 

When authorities arrived at a home on Cosey Lane in Lilly, Cambria County, for a call about a 5-year-old in cardiac arrest, they said they found a woman giving a child CPR. Court documents said the child couldn't be revived, according to WTAJ. 

Police said they questioned Bowser, who claimed she was hearing a voice from "a machine box or mic box" that told her to smother her child so he didn't go to "H E double hockey sticks," WTAJ reports. She told police she was barricading herself inside her room with her son because a voice called "Kayla" told Bowser the child wasn't hers and was trying to take him from her. 

Bowser reportedly told police the voices got "meaner and meaner," telling her that the cops were coming and were going to shoot through the wall and kill her son if she didn't smother him, WTAJ said, citing the criminal complaint. Bowser told police the voices said it would be better to smother her son than have him be shot.

She admitted to smothering her child using her hands and her blanket, WTAJ reports. 

Bowser's mother told police that her daughter had been to the doctor on Jan. 30 because she had been hearing voices, but there wasn't an official diagnosis for her, the TV station said. 

Cambria County District Attorney Greg Neugebauer said mental health will be a large part of the case and there are privacy concerns when it comes to disclosing information. 

"To say that this is a difficult case for law enforcement is an understatement. Many of us are parents and I think we all hugged our kids a little harder last night," Neugebauer said, according to WTAJ.