Utah woman sentenced in deaths of 6 newborns found in garage
A Southern Utah woman who pleaded guilty to killing 6 of her newborn children over ten years was sentenced Monday to five years to life in prison.
Megan Huntsman, 40, pleaded guilty in February to six counts of first-degree felony murder. The infants were killed shortly after birth by being smothered or choked, from Jan. 1996 to Dec. 2006. The bodies were hidden in boxes in her garage.
Huntsman claimed a seventh infant found was stillborn, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. The Pleasant Grove woman has three other children, whom she told police she had before she developed a drug problem.
The three living children are now between ages 13 and 20.
Defense attorney Anthony Howell told the judge that Huntsman developed a methamphetamine problem after becoming pregnant as a teen.
“I think it’s safe to say she had a rough go at adult life … She’s shy and was afraid to reach out for help,” defense attorney Anthony Howell told the court.
The discovery of the infants came when Huntsman’s estranged husband, Darren West, 41, went to retreive items from the home in April 2014.
It remains unclear how Huntsman concealed the pregnancies, births and murders from friends and family members.
Contact Kristen DeSilva at 702-477-3895 or kdesilva@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @kristendesilva
