Monday, June 15, 2009

Woman who killed daughter may get out of prison next month


ksl.com, June 9th, 2009

Full story here

UTAH STATE PRISON -- In extremely emotional testimony, Wendy Bullock described "the voices" that led her to kill her 2 1/2-year-old daughter, Sarah.

On Tuesday, 34-year-old Bullock appeared before the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole for her first hearing. Her hands shackled at the waist, she strained to wipe her eyes as she told a parole board member about her years-long battle with mental illness.

"I started hearing voices, and I didn't understand it was mental illness," she said. "I thought it was God or the Holy Ghost or other people's thoughts. The voices continued to get worse."

In 2004, those voices led her to put her daughter in her car and drive from Salt Lake City to an area near Moab. She thought she could see snipers. She thought she could see police cars and helicopters. She thought they were all going to harm her and her daughter.

"The voices were telling me that society was going to hurt my daughter in the worst way, and that God wanted me to send her to a better place," Bullock cried, describing how she choked Sarah to death.

The voices didn't shut up, but Bullock realized what she had done. She said she tried to kill herself -- shoving a pencil in her ear and cutting herself with a dull pocketknife. The voices didn't stop.

It was then a passer-by found her, and she asked for help. Bullock was arrested and later pleaded guilty, but mentally ill, to child abuse homicide. She served sometime in the Utah State Hospital and later wound up at Point of the Mountain.

No comments: