Schlosser pastor: Mental problems ’caused by demons’

Plano officer said he nearly quit after seeing dead infant

McKINNEY - The minister of a Plano woman accused of killing her daughter by severing her arms at the shoulders testified today that he does not believe in mental illness and that those problems are “caused by demons.”

Doyle Davidson, a self-proclaimed apostle and prophet, testified on the third day of the capital murder trial of Dena Schlosser, who is accused of killing her 10-month-old baby girl by cutting off her arms.

Ms. Schlosser, 37, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

“I don’t view mental problems … all mental problems, I’m convinced, is caused by demons,” he said. “I do not believe that any mental illness exists that is not manifestation of demonic activity,” said the minister of Water of Life church in Plano.

He said medicine cannot help them.

Mr. Davidson, 73, told the court, as he has in previous interviews, that he did not know the Schlossers well.

The defense asked Mr. Davidson about his teachings, which talk about a Jezebel spirit in women; that women must submit to their husbands; and that he can cast the devil and spirits out of people.

Wearing a suit and tie, Mr. Davidson spoke in a gravely voice and smirked often when the defense asked questions. He also frequently quoted Scripture to answer a question.

Mr. Davidson also testified that a woman who used to go to the church and is legally married to another man was given to him by God as his wife. The man was once an apostle in the church but Mr. Davidson fired him. He said he was wrong when he thought God told him to make him an apostle.

Another minister who testified Tuesday for the defense said that Mr. Davidson’s teachings are archaic and out of the mainstream. She also said that many who read the Mr. Davidson speaks of would interpret them differently.

Mr. Davidson, who has no formal religious training, said he is merely telling people what God has told him.

Earlier today, a Plano police officer testified that he almost quit after he responded to the Schlosser’s apartment and saw a baby girl dead in her crib, her arms severed at the shoulders.

Officer Mike Letzelter was the second to arrive at the scene.

A former Marine and member of the Plano bomb squad, Officer Letzelter said he’d rather diffuse a bomb that could blow him into a million pieces than relive the horror of the apartment that rainy November day in 2004.

“I was completely played out in emotion in police work,” he testified as a witness for the defense. “I had nothing left to give.”

Officer Letzelter, who had been involved earlier that year when Ms. Schlosser was first diagnosed with postpartum psychosis, said he wondered why intervention attempts did not work. This is the third day of testimony. The state rested its case Tuesday.

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