Nearly a year after a California tourist says she was stabbed inside a Macy's Herald Square bathroom while changing her baby's diaper, the woman accused of the attack appeared in a downtown Manhattan courtroom Wednesday, where a judge ordered her held in custody again after she was found fit to stand trial. Kerri Aherne, 44, had been hospitalized for psychiatric treatment for more than a year before prosecutors say she walked out and allegedly attacked a stranger inside the department store the same morning.
Prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office say Aherne approached the victim from behind as she was changing her 10-month-old baby’s diaper in a seventh-floor bathroom on December 11, 2025, and began stabbing her, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. The office says the baby fell from the changing table during the attack, and the victim suffered two stab wounds to her back along with lacerations to her arm and hand that required stitches. The District Attorney’s Office identified the victim as a 39-year-old woman, though the Daily Mail and ABC7 New York have both reported she was 38 at the time of the attack.
Accounts of the baby's condition also diverge. ABC7 New York reported that the baby was not injured, while Gothamist reported that the child fell from the changing table and suffered injuries, including swelling to the forehead — a detail echoed by other outlets reporting forehead swelling or redness. The Daily Mail reported the victim was visiting from California and was taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition with knife wounds to her back, shoulder and arm.
How the Attack Was Stopped
According to the District Attorney’s Office, the victim managed to grab the knife from Aherne and threw it to the other end of the bathroom. The Daily Mail reported that the victim was able to subdue Aherne with help from the baby's father, and store security workers and police ultimately took her into custody. The District Attorney’s Office has emphasized that the charges against Aherne are allegations only, and that she is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
A Psychiatric Discharge the Same Morning
Prosecutors say Aherne had been released from Manhattan Psychiatric Center the morning of the attack, where she had been hospitalized for more than a year, according to Gothamist. The outlet's reporting on the case has detailed how closely prosecutors have tied her release to the timing of the alleged attack. The Daily Mail additionally reported that Aherne had previously been determined unfit following an earlier psychiatric evaluation in the case.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced that Aherne was indicted on one count each of attempted murder in the second degree, attempted assault in the first degree, assault in the second degree, and endangering the welfare of a child. The Daily Mail has separately reported that Aherne was arrested and charged with attempted murder, endangering the welfare of a child, two counts of assault and criminal possession of a weapon; the available reporting does not explain the discrepancy between that list and the four counts named in the District Attorney’s Office's indictment announcement.
A History in Massachusetts
Aherne is from Massachusetts, and ABC7 New York reported that she had been arrested there in 2018 for posting on Facebook that she wanted to kill Senator Elizabeth Warren. The Daily Mail reported that, according to prosecutors, Aherne also posted death threats targeting Warren and incoherent posts criticizing Donald Trump on social media, and that she had said at the time she planned to get a gun and shoot someone at a local police station. Officials said, per the Daily Mail's reporting, that Aherne was believed to be homeless and had never previously been arrested in New York.
The Daily Mail also reported that court records from 2019 show Aherne was declared an incapacitated person, with her mother and sister appointed as her guardians, and that a court directed she remain on Prolixin, an antipsychotic medication used to treat schizophrenia. The outlet reported that Aherne had, in 2018, thanked a doctor for her help and said at the time that she did not think anybody could handle what she was handling.
Wednesday's Court Appearance
At Wednesday's hearing, prosecutors requested that Aherne's remand be continued, and Judge Biben agreed to restore it, the Daily Mail reported. Aherne's legal team is expected to return with a motion by December 21. The outlet reported that Aherne protested being held without bail and told the court she did not want to go to another hospital, saying her stay at Manhattan Psychiatric Center had not helped her. Her attorney, Kevin Sylvan, made no comment on bail, according to the same report.
