They say that perhaps the most heinous crimes a
person can commit is murdering a child or infant. They are right! Taking it one
step further, Megan Huntsman, 39, plead guilty today six counts of murder for killing
six of her newborn babies and storing their bodies in her garage.
The case sent shock waves through the quiet, mostly
Mormon community where the Utah mother stored the tiny bodies for more than a
decade. Her now-estranged husband, Darren West, made the grisly discovery in
April 2014 while he cleaned out a garage in the home they had shared in Pleasant
Grove, Utah, a city of about 35,000 people, south of Salt Lake City.
Authorities say a seventh baby found in her garage was stillborn. Huntsman told
police she either strangled or suffocated the babies immediately after they
were born. She wrapped their bodies in a towel or a shirt, put them in plastic
bags and then packed them inside boxes in the garage. Police say Huntsman
killed the babies over a 10-year period from 1996 to 2006, during a period of
her life when she told investigators she was addicted to methamphetamine and
didn't want to care for the babies.
DNA results have revealed that all seven newborns
were full term and that West (above) was the biological father of the infants. West
lived with her during the decade the babies were killed, but he is not
considered a suspect in their deaths. West discovered the bodies shortly after
he was released from federal prison where he spent more than eight years after
pleading guilty to meth charges. In her few brief court appearances, Huntsman
has said very little.
Prosecutors had called it “a unique case” both in its
“heinousness” and in the “number of victims.” Huntsman faces up to life in
prison on the charges. She will be sentenced April 20.
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