According to authorities in a probable cause statement released on Monday, Megan Huntsman said that she had given birth to and killed her six babies after they were born alive at her home. The Associated Press said the babies were reportedly born between 1996 and 2006. A seventh baby appeared to have been stillborn, according to Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Buhman. Huntsman was already arrested on Sunday after police found the bodies of the tiny infants.
The 39 year-old, who is currently held on a $6 million bail, reportedly admitted to killing them either by strangulation or suffocation. She later said she wrapped each baby in either a towel or a shirt and placed in a plastic bag, then in boxes. The bail amount was the total of a million-dollar bail per each baby she confessed to have killed. AP said it was not known immediately whether Huntsman secured the services of a lawyer or if the state issued one for her. The news wire agency said that although Hunstman was arrested on the basis of six counts of murder, no formal charges were filed yet. Buhman commented that the investigation remained open.
It remained a puzzle how Huntsman managed to conceive and kill all of her babies without neighbors knowing until the discovery of a dead infant by a concerned citizen Saturday night. Huntsman's estranged husband, Darren West, was deemed to have been together with the suspect at the time the babies were born and then killed, police have said. Authorities also added that West, who has been in prison on drug-related charges, might not have any knowledge of the situation, despite the incredulity of the situation.
Police Capt. Michael Roberts told AP, "We don't believe he had any knowledge of the situation. That's the million-dollar question. Amazing."
AP added that Huntsman has three daughters, the youngest is a teenager, who lived at the house where the dead babies were found, but the mother had left, neighbors Aaron and Kathie Hawker said. They also claimed that they did not observe any suspicious activity or behavior in either any of the members of the West-Huntsman household, and claimed that Huntsman even babysat their grandchildren years ago.
