Police: Man tried to kill ‘Antichrist’ baby

A Nesquehoning man who was charged in October for stabbing his pregnant wife while high on drugs and believing the child she was carrying was the Antichrist, now faces additional attempted homicide charges of his unborn child.

Dana Seidler, 34, of the unit block of East Railroad Street, who already faced charges of aggravated assault, terroristic threats, simple assault and harassment, now also faces charges of attempted first-degree murder of an unborn child, attempted criminal homicide charges of an unborn child and aggravated assault of an unborn child.

Nesquehoning police added the new charges on Wednesday.

According to the affidavit filed by Nesquehoning police in October, on Oct. 21, officers were dispatched to the area of Mermon Avenue and West Railroad Street for a domestic.

Officers found a pregnant woman sitting on the porch of a home on West Railroad with a stab wound to the stomach and visible defensive wounds. She told police her husband, identified as Seidler, went back to their home after the incident.

Police went to the couple’s home and heard people talking inside. Officers were then able to identify Seidler, who was making his son read a piece of paper with some type of prayer on it over and over again.

Police ordered Seidler to come out. He replied, “I will as soon as he is finished reading.”

Eventually he came out and was taken into custody by Nesquehoning police, while officers from Jim Thorpe recovered the knife that was used in the incident. The boy in the home pointed out that it was an approximately 14-inch blade sword and showed police where it was located.

The boy told police Seidler had been acting weird all day and had been reading the Bible for hours before hearing his mother yelling for help. The boy said he saw his father on top of his mother with the knife in his hand. The woman, who was 4 months pregnant, was bleeding.

The boy was able to get his father to hand over the knife to him and tried to help his mother flee, but Seidler again chased her out of the home.

Lehighton Ambulance was dispatched and treated the victim before transporting her to Lehigh Valley Hospital - Cedar Crest for her wounds.

Police said that at the time of the incident, Seidler was high on drugs and told them that he had used meth earlier in the day before he went to church.

While high, Seidler said he believed there was a demon inside his wife and he wanted to cut it out of her because the baby was the Antichrist.

He was arraigned before District Judge Casimir Kosciolek on the new charges and remanded to Carbon County Correctional Facility after bail was denied. Police did not release the condition of the mother or the baby.

A preliminary hearing before Kosciolek has been scheduled for Jan. 15.