Mother accused of killing boy with kettle bell, then calling his father to say 'We don't have a son anymore'

A mother has been accused of murdering her five-year-old son with a kettlebell before calling his father and telling him: “We don't have a son anymore.”

Cedar Mae Sarten, 43, was charged Tuesday by investigators in Seattle, Washington, with first-degree murder in the death of her son Robert “Bodhi” Gagner-Sarten. According to the Fairbanks Police Department, she was arraigned at a medical facility in Seattle.

According to an autopsy, Sarten, who reportedly suffered from mental illness, is accused of attacking her son with a 20-pound kettlebell weight and crushing his skull.

His lifeless body also suffered knife wounds, the autopsy report said.

According to a criminal complaint by Law and crimeSarten reportedly called Robert's father, Robert Gagner, and left a voicemail saying, “Robert, this is really bad, you need to come here urgently now.”

“Please don’t freak out. We don’t have a son anymore.”

She then allegedly slashed herself with a knife before police arrived on scene and took her to hospital.

The horrific incident occurred around 10 a.m. on October 14th when Fairbanks Emergency Services received a 911 call from Cedar Mae Sarten. who called from her apartment on 10th Avenue and reported that “someone did something to her son and that he is definitely dead.”

She told police that she last saw her son alive between 1 and 2 a.m. when he fell asleep, and insisted that she had called 911 the night before but had not been able to reach a switchboard .

When the first officer entered their apartment, five-year-old Robert was found dead on the bed. There was a bloody knife next to him, and a second knife and the kettlebell smashed his head into the ground.

Police emphasized that “a significant amount of blood” was found throughout the apartment.

According to Fairbanks PD, the 43-year-old was convicted of child endangerment for previously harming her son in a violent attack at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital in July 2020. She had “grabbed his head and twisted it” when her son was 16 months old.

Sarten reportedly has 20 arrests in her past, including for theft, assault, criminal mischief, and her son's reckless endangerment conviction.

In a GoFundMe set up by family and friends for Bodhi, loved ones described him as the “sweetest” and “kindest, most loving little boy” who “absolutely loved cheese pizza (his favorite food in the world) and mozzarella sticks.” .

The five-year-old's body will be buried in the village of Ruby, a site overlooking the scenic Yukon River where his grandfather was buried.

His father, Robert Gagner, was said to be devastated by the loss of his son, who had joint custody.

Sarten is being held at the King County Correctional Facility in Washington on $2 million bail, according to jail records.

Fairbanks PD said, “We would like to thank the Fairbanks Fire Department for their assistance with this incident as well as the Crisis Now Mobile Crisis Team for their support of the victim's family members following this tragic event.”

Police asked anyone with information to contact Detective Robert Hall at [email protected] or 907-450-6500.