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Megan Huntsman,
accused of killing six of her newborn babies and storing their bodies in her
garage, appears in court, in Provo, Utah. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
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A Utah, US woman accused of
killing six of her newborn babies and storing their bodies in her garage
appears set to take a plea deal Thursday.
Prosecutors and
attorneys for Megan Huntsman have reached a resolution and requested a special
setting for a hearing Thursday morning in Provo, Utah, online court records
show. The attorneys said last month they were negotiating a plea deal.
The Associated Press reports Deputy Utah County
Attorney's Tim Taylor said Huntsman will probably take the plea deal unless
there is a final-hour snag, but he declined to reveal details of the agreement.
Huntsman's attorney Andy Howell could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Huntsman, 39, has not
entered a plea to the six counts of murder she is facing.
The tiny bodies of
seven babies were found by her estranged husband 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 south of Salt Lake City. Authorities say a seventh baby found in
her garage was stillborn.
The grisly discovery
sent shockwaves through the quiet, mostly Mormon community.
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.
Police say Huntsman
killed the babies over a 10-year period from 1996 to 2006, during a period of
her life when she told investigators she was addicted to methamphetamine and
didn't want to care for the babies.
DNA results have
revealed that all seven newborns were full term and that her now-estranged
husband, Darren West, was the biological father of the infants. West lived with
her during the decade the babies were killed, but he is not considered a
suspect in their deaths.
West discovered the
bodies shortly after he was released from federal prison where he spent more
than eight years after pleading guilty to meth charges.
In her few brief court
appearances, Huntsman has said very little.
The day the babies were
found, Huntsman told police that were eight or nine dead babies in her home,
search warrant affidavit show. But police later concluded Huntsman was confused
and was taking a ballpark guess.
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