Woman Who Killed 6 Of Her Newborns And Hid Bodies In Garage Sentenced To Prison

Mom Who Killed Six Newborns Sentenced To Prison

A mother who killed six of her newborn babies and hid their bodies in her garage was sentenced to up to life in prison Monday at an emotional hearing in which a prosecutor depicted her as an “incredibly indifferent and callous” murderer.

Via AP reports:

The judge imposed a sentence against Megan Huntsman that went beyond what was called for in a plea deal because he was so repelled by the killings. Judge Darold McDade said that he heard about the case before it came to his courtroom and hoped it wouldn’t be assigned to him.

Huntsman, 40, told police she was too addicted to methamphetamine to care for more children during the decade when the babies were killed. Police said she concealed her pregnancies, gave birth at home and choked and strangled the children with her own hands just minutes after they were born. She killed six babies, and a seventh body of a newborn found in her garage was found to be stillborn.

Police found the bodies wrapped in cloth, put in plastic bags and packed into boxes. She eventually moved out of the house and left the decomposing remains behind. She thought about moving the bodies, but said she couldn’t think of a way to do it without getting caught.

It remains unclear how Huntsman concealed the pregnancies, births and murders from family members and friends.

“These were very cold, calculated killings,” prosecutor Jeff Buhman. “She was a woman who was remarkably, unbelievably, incredibly indifferent and callous.”

Family members sobbed in the courtroom as Pleasant Grove police Detective Dan Beckstrom spoke about the killings.

He said the first body was discovered by one of the couple’s daughters as she cleaned out the garage with her father, Darren West, shortly after he finished an eight-year federal prison stint on meth charges in April 2014. He lived with Huntsman during the decade when the babies were killed, but police have said they aren’t investigating him in the deaths.

Huntsman has three surviving children, and Huntsman opted to not kill one of them because people found out about the pregnancy, Buhman said.

Still, her family painted a picture of a shy, quiet person in a bad marriage who didn’t know how to speak up for herself but was a good mother to her three other children.