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Woman who decapitated her ex boyfriend's mother gets life in prison

She carried out decapitation to release soul from body

Via AP news wire
Wednesday 30 September 2020 16:41 BST
Decapitation Killing
Decapitation Killing (The Wichita Eagle)

A woman has been sentenced to life in prison for decapitating her ex-boyfriend's mother with a pair of kitchen knives.

Rachael Hilyard, 38, from Wichita, Kansas, was sentenced Tuesday in the 2017 death of 63-year-old Micki Davis, The Wichita Eagle reported.

Hilyard apologised at the hearing, which several of Davis' family members attended in person or watched via a Zoom call.

“I feel that even death would be too good for me now. … Every day and every night I am sorry,” she said.

Authorities said Davis was attacked after going to Hilyard's home to pick up some of her son's property on 9 April 2017. 

Prosecutors said Hilyard had planned the killing. Hilyard claimed that Davis fell during a struggle over a painting and that she carried out the decapitation because she thought Davis was dead and wanted to release her soul from her body.

While being questioned by police about the killing, Hilyard said: “God was telling me to do it.”

A jury convicted Hilyard in February. She will be eligible for parole after serving 50 years in prison.

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