6 life terms in prison for woman who killed newborns


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PROVO — The six newborn babies each lived less than 2 minutes before their mother, lost in a haze of desperation and addiction, pressed her thumbs to their throats and choked them.

"She remembered using a hair tie one time … to be sure," Pleasant Grove police detective Dan Beckstrom testified at Megan Huntsman's sentencing hearing Monday.

"Why?" prosecutors asked.

"To be sure it was dead," Huntsman explained to Beckstrom.

Huntsman, 40, pleaded guilty in February to six counts of murder, a first-degree felony. She was sentenced Monday to six terms of five years to life in prison for murdering the babies between 1996 and 2006, then packaging their bodies and hiding them in her garage for years to come. Fourth District Judge Darold McDade ordered three of those terms to be served consecutively and three to be served concurrently.

"I don't think she'll ever be released," Utah County Attorney Jeff Buhman said following the sentencing. "My guess is that she'll serve the rest of her life."

'Huntsman of yesterday'

Joyce Huntsman describes her daughter as "tiny," an image that held true as the small, brunette woman shuffled into the courtroom Monday, her hands and feet shackled.

Her quiet daughter always kept to herself, never wanting to ask for help, rarely sharing personal details of her life with anyone, Joyce Huntsman told McDade. She grew even more secretive after she got pregnant in high school and moved out at age 18 to marry Darren West.

"She never found the strength to stand up for herself," Joyce Huntsman said, describing a young woman she called "the Megan Huntsman of yesterday."


Depression and alcohol took hold of me the same way drugs did. I cannot give a reasonable answer why I was capable of such a sick and heinous crime. I held my secret for 18 years.

–Megan Huntsman


Those shy and secretive qualities can't explain away, but likely contributed to Megan Huntsman's shocking crime, defense attorney Anthony Howell said. She suffered from chronic depression and a rocky marriage, and was scared to reach out for help.

"I think it's fair to say she had a rough go of adult life," Howell said.

Megan Huntsman declined to speak Monday, but in a statement read by her attorney, she acknowledged the power that the addictions held over her.

Police say Megan Huntsman, a mother of three children who are still living, was addicted to drugs at the times of the other births and couldn't afford to keep the babies and still have her methamphetamine. After she kicked her meth habit, she told the judge in the statement, "I moved on to alcohol."

"Depression and alcohol took hold of me the same way drugs did," she said. "I cannot give a reasonable answer why I was capable of such a sick and heinous crime. I held my secret for 18 years."

Haunting investigation

It was an unusual move, but prosecutors called Beckstrom to testify during the hearing because they said the full story had never come out.

"We did want to make sure that (the judge) understood everything that we dealt with," Beckstrom said after the hearing. "To be able to give him a synopsis of … everything we did to understand what Megan chose to do, we wanted the judge to understand that before he made his decision."

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Family members had been helping West clean out the garage at his Pleasant Grove home, 536 E. 200 North, so that he could move out of a halfway house following his time in prison, Beckstrom testified. The couple's youngest living daughter had opened the first box, discovering what appeared to be "a dead baby in a bag."

West, who investigators determined was the father of all six children and a seventh that was stillborn, insisted he was never aware his wife had been pregnant with those seven children.

As police searched the garage, Megan Huntsman was being interviewed by police. Initially, she insisted that the baby in that bag had been stillborn, delivered shortly after her husband went to prison. She hid the body, she said, because she didn't know what else to do.

But about an hour into the interview, police at the scene reported that a second baby had been found, Beckstrom said.

The detective described how each body was found as officers opened boxes inside of boxes, wrapped in layers of plastic or blankets, sometimes taped shut with electrical tape. In all, investigators eventually determined that the bodies of five baby girls and two baby boys had been hidden for years.

"It's been horrible for our department. Some of the things officers saw in that garage, they can never unsee," Beckstrom said.


It's been horrible for our department. Some of the things officers saw in that garage, they can never unsee.

–Det. Dan Beckstrom, Pleasant Grove PD


Huntsman eventually admitted that she had murdered all but one. Haunted by demons and addictions, she believed she couldn't be a good mother to the children, she wrote in her statement.

"In some small way, I wanted to help them avoid the terrible life I would have given them," she said. "I deprived my little babies of the opportunity of life."

Huntsman's attorney said Monday that while his client wasn't initially forthcoming, she eventually gave a full confession. Without her cooperation, attorneys on both sides noted prosecutors wouldn't have had a case against her.

"She unburdened herself of 18 years of guilt," Howell said.

Mother of three

As Megan Huntsman explained her story to police, detectives asked her why she had let her three oldest children live.

Her first two children were born before she and her husband started using meth, according to Beckstrom. She was on drugs, however, when she became pregnant with her third living daughter.

"(She) was not murdered because the pregnancy was known" to other people, Beckstrom said.

After that, he said, Huntsman was careful to never disclose her pregnancies.

Megan Huntsman arrives in court Monday, April 20, 2015, in Provo. Huntsman, who pleaded guilty to killing six of her newborn babies and hiding their bodies in her garage, received six sentences of up to life in prison. (Photo: Rick Bowmer)
Megan Huntsman arrives in court Monday, April 20, 2015, in Provo. Huntsman, who pleaded guilty to killing six of her newborn babies and hiding their bodies in her garage, received six sentences of up to life in prison. (Photo: Rick Bowmer)

Two of Huntsman's daughters submitted letters on their mother's behalf, describing her as a loving parent who had done a good job caring for them rather than a cold killer as some see her.

"Nobody could guess my mom would do anything like this," they wrote. "No matter what anyone thinks you are, you are a good person."

Megan Huntsman's youngest sister, Jamie Huntsman, wept as she read the letters, then went on to give her own statement. Her sister had always been loving, but timid and shy.

"Megan is not a monster," Jamie Huntsman said. "She's not evil. From what I understand, she was scared."

Family members said they didn't know about the methamphetamine that ruled the couple's lives. Joyce Huntsman urged other parents to watch for the signs of addictions in their children.

Despite her family's testimony, prosecutors insisted that there was no way to deny that Megan Huntsman had carefully plotted to kill each of the six children without any of her family noticing, cleaning up all the evidence before they could see.

"These were very cold and calculated killings," Buhman said. "She smothered or strangled six of her own flesh and blood."

As he handed down the sentence, McDade explained that he was the judge who signed the search warrant on the day the babies were found. At that time, he had quietly hoped he wouldn't have to be the one to be assigned the troubling case.

"I really thought I had seen it all until this case," McDade said. "It shocked me then and it shocks me now."

Contributing: Sam Penrod

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