COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — Kimberlynn Bolanos told police that she killed her 5-month-old son to prevent police from taking him away because she smoked crack, prosecutors said.

Bolanos, 21, appeared in Cook County Criminal Court on Friday on charges she murdered Isaac Bolanos. She is charged with stabbing the boy to death in a Lincoln Square motel on May 30.

Assistant State's Attorney Bridget O'Brien said Isaac suffered 21 stab wounds in his head and eight in his chest, and his throat was slashed from ear to ear.

Her public defender said Bolanos, who used to work for the Chicago Park District, has serious mental health issues.

O'Brien said Bolanos was staying with her son at the Diplomat Motel, 5230 N. Lincoln Ave., when her boyfriend came over on May 29.

She left to go to a nearby store, where she bought a package of knives, razors and a large knife, O'Brien said. She returned to the hotel, where she and her boyfriend drank, smoked marijuana and had sex before going to bed for the night.

The next morning, as the couple was making plans for the day, Bolanos went into the bathroom saying she was going to take a shower, and she took the boy with her, O'Brien said.

When she failed to emerge 30 minutes later, the boyfriend tried to get inside. After he forced his way in, he found Isaac sitting in his car seat, wounded and bloodied, O'Brien said.

A motel clerk last week said a man came to her about 10:30 a.m., asking her to call 911.

"Call the police. The lady killed my son! The lady killed my son!" the clerk said the man shouted.

When officers arrived, Bolanos told them police were going to take her baby away from her, "so she killed him instead," O'Brien said.

After fatally wounding her son, Bolanos stabbed herself in an apparent suicide attempt, police said. She was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center and remained hospitalized until this week, delaying her bond hearing.

Isaac was pronounced dead at Swedish Covenant Hospital at 10:55 a.m. May 30, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.

Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. ordered Bolanos held without bail Friday.