Mother who killed daughter found dead in prison

Monroeville woman took her own life

A Monroeville woman sentenced in 2007 to life in prison for fatally stabbing her adult daughter killed herself Tuesday in her cell at a state correctional facility in Lycoming County, authorities said Wednesday.

The Lycoming County coroner ruled the death of Kimberly McKaveney, 52, at State Correctional Institution-Muncy, a women’s prison, as a suicide by asphyxiation.

“She had a bag over her head,” Coroner Charles Kiessling said. “You can’t breathe through plastic. She tied it around her neck.”

Mr. Kiessling said no autopsy was conducted after McKaveney was discovered unresponsive in her cell around 10:40 a.m. Tuesday by her roommate. She was pronounced dead 20 minutes later.

“The cause of death was obvious. It was self-inflicted. It was suicide,” Mr. Kiessling said. He said she left a note behind. Pennsylvania State Police are investigating. No one from the Montoursville barracks familiar with the investigation could be reached for comment.

McKaveney was convicted of first-degree murder for killing her 20-year-old daughter, Jennifer, on Sept. 16, 2005, as the pair walked their dog in Beechwood Park in Monroeville .

Witnesses said they saw McKaveney covered in blood, and she first told police she had quarreled with her daughter and left her in the park, then later insisted a bearded man had burst upon the scene and stabbed Jennifer. McKaveney said she hid from the man because she feared he would return.

McKaveney’s attorney said at the time of the sentencing that his client suffered from serious mental problems.

Troy Edwards, a prison spokesman, said it did not appear that there were any warning signs.

“The successful ones, unfortunately, are the ones no one really

knows about,” Mr. Edwards said.

McKaveney had not expressed any suicidal tendencies and was not suffering from any serious illness, according to Mr. Edwards.

As Mr. Kiessling noted, however, she was a lifer, incarcerated for killing her child.

“This is her only way outside of the facility,” he said.

Mr. Edwards said he did not have specific information about the plastic bag used but noted that inmates have trash cans with plastic liners inside their cells.

McKaveney was up at 6 a.m for a head count and wentto work at 8 a.m., running a cleaning detail on her unit, Mr. Edwards said. As the person in charge of the detail, he added, she would have had accessto garbage bags.

The prison has not made any changes regarding access to garbage bags. Mr. Edwards said it was the only instance in his 13 years at the prison he could recall when a garbage bag was used in a suicide or an attempted suicide.

“I don’t think that prompts a knee-jerk reaction of a removal of all plastic bags,” Edwards said.

During the course of the investigation, authorities have been able to narrow the window between McKaveney’s death and the last time she was seen alive to about 30 minutes, Mr. Edwards said.

McKaveney was alone in her cell at the time she killed herself, Mr. Kiessling said. There are cameras in the facility, but they are trained on common areas and hallways, not inside cells as a matter of privacy, Mr. Edwards said.

It would not take long to die from asphyxiation, the coroner said.

“Your brain cells start to die within four to six minutes,” according to Mr. Kiessling. Mr.