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Attorney: Tenn. kidnapping suspect tried suicide

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The attorney for a woman charged with kidnapping a Tennessee newborn said Monday his client has tried to commit suicide since she's been locked up and that certain medications for her mental health are being withheld.

Attorney Isaiah Gant asked a federal judge during a preliminary and detention hearing to investigate Tammy Renee Silas' claim that she is being mistreated at the Robertson County Jail and to consider moving her to another facility.

Gant told the judge that Silas has been told that U.S. Marshals ordered the jail to withhold her medication. He said he's noticed that Silas has become increasingly disoriented, which has effected his ability to communicate with her.

When a reporter asked about scars on Silas' wrists after the hearing, Gant said she tried to kill herself. He said he was unsure what kind of medications Silas is supposed to be taking.

"Which ones she's getting, which ones she's not getting, and what she was getting in the past before she got here, I'm still trying to find out," Gant said.

A woman who answered the phone at the Robertson County Jail refused to comment. But a prosecutor told the judge during the hearing that he would confer with the U.S. Marshal's Office and possibly have a report for him by the end of the week.

Besides being deprived of her medication, Gant told the judge that Silas was afraid "someone might put something in her food." Gant told reporters Silas hasn't eaten any solid food in at least a week and that she told him she found a tack in one of her meals.

He said he thinks she is depressed.

"I'm told that she eats oranges occasionally and drinks liquids," said Gant.

The 39-year-old Silas was charged with kidnapping Yahir Anthony Carrillo on Sept. 29 in Nashville. Police traced the infant to Silas' home in Ardmore, Ala., about 80 miles south of Nashville, three days later.

Last month, investigators returned to Silas' home to look for more evidence.

Authorities haven't yet charged anyone in the knife attack on the baby's mother, and have said the investigation continues.

Maria Gurrola, 30, told police that she was at her Nashville home with her baby and her 3-year-old daughter when a blond, heavyset woman came to the door claiming to be an immigration officer.

Gurrola said the woman tried to arrest her and then repeatedly stabbed her with a knife. Gurrola told investigators that at one point she heard the woman make a phone call and tell someone in Spanish that "the job is done" and that the mother "was dying."

After three days of searching, investigators got a break when a car was seen on a surveillance video following Gurrola before the attack, and the car rental information led police to the home near the Tennessee-Alabama state line.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)