MAGNOLIA, Texas — A Texas woman was arrested early Saturday after allegedly slashing her five-year-old son’s throat because she believed there were demons inside his body.

Daphne Spurlock, 45, now faces a charge of attempted capital murder, the Magnolia Police Department said in a press release.

Officers made the discovery shortly after 12:00am local time while conducting a welfare check on the child — identified by KHOU-TV as five-year-old Michael Spurlock — at his mother’s mobile home in Magnolia, about 45 miles northwest of Houston.

The boy’s father, David Spurlock, had contacted police fearing that his son was dead.

When police arrived on the scene, they found Michael with head and chest injuries from being stomped on by his mother.

Daphne Spurlock told officers she was attempting to release demons from her son’s body, then used a kitchen knife to slit his throat and stab him in the face multiple times, according to the press release.

Michael was flown to a Houston hospital to undergo emergency surgery. He was listed in critical condition Saturday afternoon, though family members told KTRK-TV that he was stable after the extensive surgery.

Daphne Spurlock was arrested and booked into jail.

David Spurlock told the Houston Chronicle that his wife, a born-again Christian, had recently begun hearing voices that she believed were relaying messages from Jesus, and had started using profanity, which “was not like her at all.”

“I wish I would have been there and it wouldn’t have happened,” he said.