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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A Utah woman accused of kidnapping and drowning her 19-month-old granddaughter has been declared competent to stand trial in U.S. District Court on a federal kidnapping charge.
Kelley J. Lodmell, 38, also is charged in Idaho with first-degree murder and kidnapping.
Following Lodmell's mental evaluation at a Texas hospital, a federal judge ruled Monday that the woman is competent to stand trial.
She is accused in the presumed drowning of Acacia Bishop in the Snake River at Idaho Falls, Idaho.
Acacia has been missing since May 26, when police said Lodmell jumped into the river with her in a murder-suicide attempt.
Authorities claim Acacia was kidnapped from her great-grandparents' home in Salt Lake City and taken to Idaho Falls. Lodmell told investigators she planned to keep Acacia until she was arrested but later decided to kill herself and the baby, according to court records.
Searchers spent weeks looking for Acacia but turned up nothing.
Acacia's parents, Adam Bishop and Casey Lodmell, believe Kelley Lodmell may actually have turned over their daughter to someone else in Idaho and that Acacia may still be alive.
Relatives said Kelley Lodmell suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
