North Texas mom tried to put 3-year-old girl in oven, cut kids with knives, warrant says

A North Texas woman who police say tried to put one of her children in an oven and cut her kids with knives when they couldn’t find her alcohol was arrested on six felony warrants after a stand-off with a SWAT team this week, the Allen Police Department said.

Just before 9 a.m. Monday, Allen police’s SWAT team responded to the 1500 block of Tanglewood Drive to execute a search warrant at the home of 36-year-old Lul Top, who was wanted on six felony charges including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and abandoning or endangering a child.

When officers entered the home, Top went to the attic and barricaded herself, according to police. After an hour of unsuccessful attempts by officers to speak to Top and negotiate with her, chemical agents were deployed, police said. At around 10:50 a.m., Top surrendered and was taken into custody.

Police had first responded to the Allen home on Jan. 8 regarding a call about a disturbance.

Investigators said they determined Top’s six children witnessed her causing bodily injury to her husband, Kenneth Jones Jr., 31, by hitting him on the head with a piece of wood.

In an interview with police on Jan. 24, one of Top’s six children — a 3-year-old girl — said that her mother tried to put her inside the oven, which was turned on. The child described it as being hot, saying that the oven hurt, according to a search warrant affidavit obtained by WFAA-TV.

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Three other children interviewed by police said they witnessed Top trying to put the toddler in the oven as punishment for not finding their mother’s alcohol. Top had the children turn the oven on, waited for it to get hot, and “balled her up she could fit inside,” the warrant says.

Officers observed scars on two of the children, resembling cuts caused by knives, according to the warrant. They told police that Top used a knife on them.

Another child disclosed to police in a second interview on Jan. 25 that Top has held a knife and threatened to kill everyone, including her husband. The child said Top heavily drinks and makes all the children look for alcohol when their mother can’t find any, according to the warrant.

When they cannot find alcohol, Top becomes angry and has also threatened to cut her children’s hands and fingers off, the warrant says.

The child told police that the kids have hidden knives from Top in the home so that she cannot threaten to harm them.

In a third interview, a child told police that Top made one of the children find a knife so that she could stab them, according to the warrant. She held a knife to one of her children’s tongue, threatening to cut it off and the boy began crying out of fear, the document states.

The boy was pleading with his sisters to find Top’s alcohol before she could cut his tongue off, the warrant says.

According to the third interview, Top found the alcohol behind her bedroom door and knew it was there the entire time, but wanted to torment the children because was intoxicated. The child told police he did not feel safe at home with his mom and dad around. He has been forced to drink a brown-colored alcohol so that he can experience how Top feels when she drinks, according to the warrant. He told police he thinks Top hates him, making him feel that he is always the problem.

Top would also hold a knife to the wrists and forearms of the children when she would threaten to harm them when they could not find her alcohol, the warrant says. She would turns their wrists over where their veins are and hold the knife against their skin, a child told police.

The last child interviewed by police said they had to physically fight Top and grab the daughter who Top was trying to put in the oven, taking her upstairs to hide her inside a bedroom. They also said Top has a plate in her bedroom that has a white powdery substance on it with someone’s ID, where they saw her using a straw to snort the powder into her nose. She would act weird afterwards, listening to loud music, and would become aggressive with the children, the warrant says.

Top denied ever causing harm to the children, according to the warrant. She admitted to having cocaine in the home and around the children, but said that it belongs to her husband.

Texas Child Protective Services had each child tested for the presence of illegal narcotics, and they all tested positive for cocaine, according to the warrant.

Officers said they seized 11 fixed bladed knives while conducting a search warrant in the home.

Top was transported to the Collin County Jail, where she was being held on $600,000 bond.