Utah mother accused of killing 6 babies pleads guilty

PROVO, Utah (AP) — A Utah mother accused of killing six of her newborn babies and storing their bodies in her garage pleaded guilty to murder today.

Megan Huntsman, 39, faces up to life in prison on the charges. She will be sentenced April 20.

She pleaded guilty to six counts of murder while standing next to her attorney in court.

Prosecutors had called it a unique case in both its heinousness and in the number of victims.

The deaths sent shock waves through the quiet, mostly Mormon community where Huntsman stored the tiny bodies for more than a decade.

Her estranged husband made the grisly discovery in April 2014 while he cleaned out a garage in the home they had shared in Pleasant Grove, Utah, a city of about 35,000 people, south of Salt Lake City. Authorities say a seventh baby found in her garage was stillborn.

Huntsman told police she either strangled or suffocated the babies immediately after they were born. She wrapped their bodies in a towel or a shirt, put them in plastic bags and then packed them inside boxes in the garage.