Report: Mom accused of killing girl, 6, said she wanted to protect her from "aliens"
A Virginia woman who allegedly fatally shot her 6-year-old daughter before making a series of cryptic 911 calls told a detective that she wanted to send the girl to heaven to protect her from aliens, according to court documents obtained by The Roanoke Times.
27-year-old Darla Elizabeth Hise is charged with first-degree murder in the Feb. 4 shotgun slaying of her daughter Abigail in their home in Hot Springs, near Virginia's border with West Virginia. A 3-year-old boy was found in the home unharmed, and was placed in the care of relatives.
In an interview with a detective at a hospital, Hise "detailed her psychosis that she believed her daughter and son were in danger from aliens and she thought she was going to save her daughter by sending her to heaven," her attorney Tony Anserson wrote in a motion asking that the statements to police be suppressed, the paper reports on its website, Roanoke.com.
The motion says she also told officials at a psychiatric hospital that she had "aliens in her body and wanted them removed from her stomach," the website reports.
Although Hise waived her Miranda rights to remain silent and to retain a lawyer before speaking with a detective, Anderson reportedly argued in the motion that "drug use and psychosis" hindered her ability to understand what was happening. Roanoke.com reports.
Hise had been using methamphetamines, amphetamines and marijuana for three weeks before the slaying, was speaking incoherently at the hospital and was diagnosed with "possible drug-induced psychosis vs. PTSD psychosis," the motion said.
The motion also asked for a change of venue for Hise's trial, scheduled to begin Aug. 23, because the case has "evoked great passion and prejudice in the community," reports CBS affiliate WDBJ.
WDBJ reported in February that Hise called Bath County dispatchers multiple times the night of the murder, but refused to give her name or an address. Bath County Sheriff Robert Plecker told the station the caller would only say something along the lines of, "I think my daughter has been shot."
Deputies responded to the area from where the call was placed and eventually encountered Hise and learned she was the caller. Hise led deputies to her home, where they found her daughter Abigail shot dead, the station reports.
Investigators took a statement from Hise and charged her with murder, the station reports. She had no criminal history.
"It's a devastating event to this community," Plecker said.
An online obituary said the girl was known to family and friends as Abby.
"She was a beautiful, happy child who loved to ride her bike, draw, color and play with her little brother, 'Ben Ben,'" the obituary read. "She was a frequent visitor to Lake Moomaw where she loved to swim and play in the lake."
The obituary said the girl is survived by her grandparents, father, elementary school friends, aunts and uncles, and "an entire community who loved her."