MISSOULA — A mother who is accused of killing her two young children pleaded not guilty to murder charges Monday morning in Missoula District Court.
Leannah Gardipe, 34, is accused of killing her three-year-old daughter and five-year-old son with a knife at their Missoula home in late November. She is charged with two counts of deliberate homicide. The maximum penalty for these crimes is two consecutive life sentences.
Court documents state Missoula County Sheriff deputies responded to a home on Patty Ann Drive just after 8 a.m on Nov. 19th after Gardipe's mother called 911 to report her daughter had called and told her she "saved her babies."
A few minutes later, Gardipe called 911 and said she "wanted to report a murder."
Deputies later found the children deceased inside the home while the knife was recovered from underneath a bed. A note found at the scene read, "it was the only way that we all wouldn't burn, now I'm the only one of us that will," according to court documents.
Gardipe remains in the Missoula County Detention Facility on a $10 million bond. Her next court date is set for Feb. 8.
