MOTHER KILLER
Help plea turns to guilty plea
LETHBRIDGE Two years ago she made a tearful plea at a Calgary police news conference for information on who killed her mom.
On Monday, Calgarian Lisa Freihaut pleaded guilty to seconddegree murder in her mother’s January 2016 slaying.
Freihaut, 53, pleaded guilty in connection with the Jan. 13, 2016, beating and stabbing death of Irene Carter in the victim’s Lethbridge home. Carter was found dead on Jan .17,2016, by Freih au t’ s husband, Dean. She was there with him at the time of the grisly discovery.
According to a statement of agreed facts, signed my the offender and her lawyer, Andre Ouellette, Freihaut had a gambling addiction and had taken over her mom’s finances.
She had also secretly taken out a mortgage on her mother’s home.
Carter learned of the mortgage when her home insurer left her a message saying she owed $65 because she was no longer eligible for a mortgage-free discount.
After she called her daughter in Calgary to confront her about the loan, Freihaut drove to her mom’s Lethbridge home, and they argued.
During the argument, Freihaut approached Carter, who grabbed a knife and told her to leave.
Instead, Freihaut took the knife from her mother and stabbed her repeatedly, before pushing her down a set of stairs.
“Rather than call police, Lisa went to the landing and banged Irene’s head on the floor forcefully and repeatedly until Irene stopped breathing,” Crown prosecutor Bradley Stephenson said.
Dr. Bamidele Adeagbo, who conducted Carter’s autopsy, said the cause of death was a combination of blunt force injuries and stab wounds to the chest.
Adeagbo determined the deceased had been stabbed 13 times.
In April, 2016, Freihaut fought through sobs at Calgary police headquarters as she stared into cameras to say she needed to see the case closed so she and her family could start to heal.
“No family deserves to have to go through this,” she said, as her husband held her close. “My mom loved her family and friends, especially her grandchildren — they were her pride and joy.
“This is the first time I don’t get to send my mom flowers or give her a card on Mother’s Day, see her beautiful garden and be with her for family gatherings.
“Mom, we love you and we miss you — we think of you every day.”
Despite Freihaut’s plea, she was already a suspect in the killing of Carter, 78.
At the time of Freihaut’s arrest Lethbridge police said they believed the killer had been involved in a dispute with her mother and a physical altercation occurred.
Lethbridge Staff Sgt. Scott Woods said when Freihaut made her public plea investigators were still gathering evidence in the case.
“She became a person of interest and then she ultimately stepped into the category of being a suspect ( but) at that point in time we were still looking for additional information or evidence,” he told a news conference on April 22, 2016.
Freihaut’s cousin, Renee Barton, wasn’t impressed with her aunt’s killer’s public plea.
In her victim impact statement, which Barton read in court, she called it “truly an academy winning deceitful performance.”
Justice Dallas Miller accepted a joint submission by Ouellette and the Crown for an automatic life sentence without parole for a minimum 11 years.