Oregon police are used to getting crime tips, but they’re not used to getting them from little kids. After mom of four Neilyann Ysam was allegedly stabbed to death, her preschooler was the one to call the authorities. Not only that, but the little one made it clear to police who the suspect was: Ysam’s partner, the child’s father. According to police, the woman and her children had recently fled from the home they shared with him. Sadly, he found them and allegedly killed Ysam for reasons that are still unknown.
Portland police officers responded to a call of a stabbing on July 19, 2025, they shared in a news release. When they arrived at the home with emergency personnel, they discovered a woman, later identified as 24-year-old Neilyann Ysam, who had been injured. She was declared dead at the scene.
The suspect, later identified as 28-year-old S Mate Joseph, was arrested the same day in Vancouver, Washington.
Court documents obtained by KATU showed that the 911 call came from Ysam’s 4-year-old daughter. “My dad killed my mom,” the young girl said, giving dispatchers her father’s name.
“I’ve been doing this quite a while. I have had cases like that before, but they’re pretty rare,” Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Brian Davidson told the outlet. “It’s, again, a horrific thing for a child to witness any act of violence, and certainly one of this order of magnitude, you just can’t, again, overstate how terrible that is.”
In the affidavit for Joseph’s arrest warrant, he also allegedly called 911. Joseph told dispatchers he stabbed a “loved one” and wasn’t sure if the person survived. Although he didn’t give a full street address, the house number he gave matched the one where Ysam was found.
Police said in their initial statement that five children were found in the home. According to KATU, four of the children belonged to Ysam. All of the children were removed from the home unharmed at the time of the incident. Family told police that the woman and her children had moved in with her aunt, escaping the home she shared with Joseph in Washington.
Joseph was charged with burglary in the first degree and murder in the second degree-domestic violence, according to the police news release. The medical examiner determined that Ysam died of a stab wound. It is being treated as a homicide.
Joseph had a history of violence against Ysam, according to Clark County court documents obtained by KATU. In 2019, he pleaded guilty to assaulting Ysam while she was pregnant. He was pulled over in a car while driving with the woman in March 2020. At the time, he was cited for violating the no-contact order issued after the 2019 assault.
If you or someone you know has been the victim of domestic abuse, you can find help and support at DVIS.org, the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or by contacting your local women’s shelter (domesticshelters.org).
