LONDON — A judge in London on Friday denied a U.S. mother’s request to stop her return to Colorado, where she faces murder charges for the deaths of her two young children.
Judge John Zani at Westminster Magistrates’ Court has decided that the British government can now send Kimberlee Singler back to America. It was unclear when that would occur.
Singler, 36, is accused of two counts of first-degree murder in the December 2023 killing and stabbings of her 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son, and one count of attempted murder in the slashing of her 11-year-old daughter with a knife in Colorado Springs. She is charged with three counts of child abuse and one count of attack.
Singler’s lawyer claimed that sending her back to the U.S. would go against European human rights laws, mainly because she could face life in prison without the chance of parole if found guilty of first-degree murder in Colorado.
Attorney Edward Fitzgerald said that such a term would be cruel because it leaves no chance for her to be released, even if she gets better.
Fitzgerald stated that even though the Colorado governor could reduce her punishment at some time, it would be very risky for them politically to make that choice.
Defense experts initially claimed that no life sentences had ever been reduced in Colorado. Prosecutors later discovered that in 2018, Governor John Hickenlooper reduced the life sentences of five men who were guilty of murder.
The defense argued that three of the terms did not mean life without parole and that two of the offenders were between 18 and 21 when they committed their crimes. This age can sometimes be seen as a reason to give a lighter punishment because they were still young.
Fitzgerald said that Kimberlee Singler, the suspect, is unlikely to be released, no matter how much progress she makes in prison.
Attorney Edward Fitzgerald said that such a term would be cruel because it leaves no chance for her to be released, even if she gets better.
Fitzgerald stated that even though the Colorado governor could reduce her punishment at some time, it would be very risky for them politically to make that choice.
Defense experts initially claimed that no life sentences had ever been reduced in Colorado. Prosecutors later discovered that in 2018, Governor John Hickenlooper reduced the life sentences of five men who were guilty of murder.
The defense argued that three of the terms did not mean life without parole and that two of the offenders were between 18 and 21 when they committed their crimes. This age can sometimes be seen as a reason to give a lighter punishment because they were still young.
Fitzgerald said that Kimberlee Singler, the suspect, is unlikely to be released, no matter how much progress she makes in prison.
On December 18, 2023, killings happened in an apartment where Singler was living with her mother. They were there due to a custody dispute with her ex-husband, who had recently been given more time with their child. Her mother was not there at that time.
Two days before the crimes, Singler was supposed to give the children to her husband for the holidays, but she wouldn’t let his sister pick them up. The husband’s lawyer obtained a court order on December 18 for her to return the children two days later.
Fitzgerald said that Singler has denied hurting her children. She told cops that her ex-husband had either carried out the killings or hired a hitman.
She told the police that her ex-husband had once dreamed of killing his family. She also said that he was always trying to blame her and get her arrested so that he could take the kids away from her, Zani said in his decision.
The police said her husband had a strong alibi, confirmed by GPS records showing he was driving a truck about 80 miles away when the killings happened.
Singler told the police that someone broke into her apartment through a patio door she forgot to lock that morning. The intruder attacked her, and she lost consciousness. Police reported that there were no footprints in the snow going to the patio.
Singler said she felt too weak to ask for help and couldn’t find her phone.
She mentioned that when she finally had enough strength, she discovered her youngest children had died and spent the day giving water to her surviving daughter.
Later that night, she heard her phone playing Christmas music. When she found it, she called the cops for help.
Singler had minor knife cuts and was first treated as a victim.
However, things changed when her surviving daughter, who first told the cops a similar story about an intruder, said that her mother tried to harm her.
After her daughter changed her account, the cops tried to arrest Singler on December 26, but she had escaped. She was found and nabbed four days later in the upscale Chelsea area of London.
The girl, whose name is not mentioned, told the police that her mother gave the children milk mixed with a powdery substance and asked them to close their eyes while she led them into a bedroom, according to authorities.
Singler cut the girl’s neck, and when the girl pleaded for her to stop, Singler cut her again. The girl said her mom had a gun.
“Smith said at an earlier hearing that the defendant told her that God was telling her to do it and that the children’s father would take them away.”
On December 19, early in the morning, police found 7-year-old Aden Wentz and 9-year-old Elianna “Ellie” Wentz dead in their Colorado Springs apartment. They were shot and stabbed.
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