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Sandra Yi ReportingAnne Wingate: "We are far more grieved at the crime that she was involved with than we are at her death."
The mother of a woman suspected in the murder of a Utah businessman speaks out. Alicia Wingate and her friend, Aaron Millenson, were shot and killed after a high-speed chase with Kansas police yesterday. Local authorities believe the two were involved in the murder of Steve Poulos.
Alicia Wingate grew up in a Salt Lake neighborhood. For the past year, she was living in Denver. Her family last saw her three months ago. Until yesterday, they had no idea she had come back to Utah or that she may have been involved in a horrific crime.
Anne Wingate, Alicia's Mother: "It was the murder of a good, kind, loving, noble man. It just breaks our heart."
Anne Wingate made a tearful apology, to the family of Steve Poulos.
Anne Wingate: "We hope that the Poulos family can forgive us."
Police believe Poulos died at the hands of Wingate's daughter, Alicia, and her friend, 18-year old Aaron Millenson. Wingate says her daughter knew Poulos had a car for sale.
Alicia Wingate: "I don't know if they went there with the intention of buying the car, or whether that was an excuse to get in the house. I don't have any idea."
Phone records led investigators to the pair.
Anne Wingate: "Police were begging Alicia to surrender. Instead, she ran."
The pair's life ended yesterday in Kansas after a high-speed chase with state police. Alicia was shot to death after she threatened troopers with a knife. Her mother believes she wanted to end her life.
Anne Wingate: "We think that somewhere, some part of her mind, she wanted to die the same way Torrie did. She wanted somebody to shoot her."
Torrie Lambrose was a good friend of Alicia's. The teen died 12 years ago in a high-profile gang shooting outside a Smith's store in Salt Lake. Wingate says her daughter never recovered from it.
Wingate adopted Alicia when she was six-years old. As a teenager, she turned to drugs and gangs. Wingate says Alicia refused to take her anti-depressant medication. She struggled in life, but her mother insists there was another side to her.
Anne Wingate: "She was a very loving young girl that, in her right mind, she would never, never have done such a horrible thing."
Alicia Wingate had two children. One is with her father; the other was put up for adoption.
Anne Wingate says the family doesn't have the money for a funeral. Alicia will be buried in Kansas in an unmarked grave.
